


Double Protected

by JCapasso



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24658711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JCapasso/pseuds/JCapasso
Summary: What if Elena had a backup of her vervain necklace that no one knew about when Damon tried to compel her?Starts at the end of 2x08 when Damon tells her that he's in love with her and compels her to forget
Relationships: Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

Elena was just finishing getting ready for bed when she stopped short at the sight of Damon sitting in her window seat. “Cute pjs,” he said with a smirk. 

“I’m tired, Damon,” Elena said wearily. 

Damon got up and walked towards her with her necklace dangling from his fingers. “Brought you this.” 

“I thought that was gone,” she said happily, reaching for the necklace. “Thank you.” When Damon pulled it away from her she started to get nervous and the look on his face wasn’t helping any. “Please give it back,” she said worriedly. 

“I just have to say something,” Damon said, stepping closer. 

“Why do you have to say it with my necklace?” Elena asked, backing away further. Granted she had extra protection that they didn’t know about, but depending on what he was planning, she might have to spill that secret. 

“Well…because what I’m about to say is…probably the most selfish thing I’ve ever said in my life,” Damon said, trying to hide his shaking hands as he swallowed around the nervous lump in his throat. Only the fact that she wouldn’t remember this gave him the courage to do it. 

“Damon, don’t go there,” Elena breathed out. She wasn’t sure what he was planning, but if she could talk him out of it all the better. 

“I just have to say it once. You just need to hear it,” Damon said, stepping closer again and this time she let him. Being so close to her was making this both easier and more difficult. “I love you, Elena,” he got the hardest part out. “And it’s because I love you that…I can’t be selfish with you. Why you can’t know this. I don’t deserve you,” he said sadly. “But my brother does.” 

Elena sucked in a sharp breath as he moved closer and she wondered if he planned on kissing her. She wondered if she would stop him if he did. She couldn’t help but close her eyes as his lips met her forehead and that just made the moment even more overpowering. When she felt his tear fall on her cheek, she was lost. 

Damon moved back and reached his hand to her cheek. “God I wish you didn’t have to forget this,” he said heartbrokenly. “But you do,” he finished with his compulsion power. 

Elena blinked and then he was gone and her necklace was back around her neck while she tried to remember how to breathe. She had seen another tear fall as he compelled her and she lifted her hand to her cheek, still feeling his touch there as a few traitorous tears fell from her own eyes. She’d tried so hard not to fall in love with Damon Salvatore for so many reasons. The first and most important of which was that she was with his brother, but there was also the fact that he was dangerous. 

She’d called him a psychopath more than once, but she knew he wasn’t. Not really. If nothing else, tonight had proved that, but she’d seen behind those masks more than once. He was a lot deeper than he pretended to be and she’d tried not to be curious because that would have led to this predicament sooner, but she couldn’t help it. Any more than she could help loving him. She’d heard the adage that all girls fall for a bad boy at least once and she’d thought it was stupid. There was no way she was going to be that stereotype, but she was. 

She got into bed and hugged her knees to her chest as she pulled her vervain ankle bracelet from her sock and fiddled with it. She’d gotten it after she’d lost the necklace the first time. It was more secure and was a secret weapon in case someone stole the necklace. Not even Stefan knew about it. She almost wished she didn’t have it now though. It would have been so much easier if the compulsion had worked. Deep down she knew that best case scenario all it would have done is bought time though. She just wasn’t ready to admit that. 

Now she had to figure out what to do. Staying with Stefan wasn’t fair to him. Not when she was in love with his brother. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Stefan because she did. Stefan was the perfect boyfriend. Steadfast, kind, supportive, loving. It was still missing something though. She hated to use the word, but the only one she could think to fit was boring. He had been everything she needed when they met. He had taught her how to live again. But she wanted more. Needed more. 

Damon challenged her. Pushed her. Made her question everything and as a result helped her find more of herself in the process. Stefan taught her how to live, but Damon made her feel more alive than ever. He kept her on her toes. Surprised her. Would stop at nothing to protect her, whether she liked it or not and as much as it infuriated her sometimes, it also made her feel safe and loved. Different than how it was with Stefan. He respected her wishes more which was a good thing, but she could admit that she had a tendency to be reckless. 

Being with Damon would be a battle. He would fight her reckless streak with everything he had and she would fight for her right to choose, but she thought that in the end they would be able to find a compromise that they could both live with. He wouldn’t go along with her when she had a stupid idea, but he wouldn’t keep her locked in a gilded cage either. Life would certainly be interesting with Damon. Not that it wasn’t interesting now, but he could add some good interesting to all the bad. The one time she’d let her hair down with him in Atlanta, they’d had fun. She could use more of that in her life. 

It was more than just what she wanted and needed though. It was what she felt. Her love for Stefan was steady, but for Damon it was explosive. Stefan was safe, and when she considered a future with him she could see herself being content, but not happy. There would always be something missing. Passion, excitement, carefree fun…she would never have those things with Stefan. She could with Damon though. It would either be the best thing in the world or it would end up destroying her, but either way it would be an amazing ride. It scared the hell out of her, but she couldn’t help but think that might be a good thing. The question was whether or not she could take the leap. 

She tried to think back and pinpoint where she first started to fall for him. She had gone back and forth on her opinion of him for a long time. It seemed like every time he let some good part of him show that he turned around and tried to prove the worst. She was starting to realize that it was a defense mechanism though. He was afraid to let anyone see his depth, so he made sure they didn’t want to. Suddenly she remembered the time when she and Stefan had promised to help him get Katherine back and then betrayed him. He’d said that he expected as much from Stefan, but she had surprised him. He’d expected better from her, and that had made her feel like crap. She had pulled out all the stops to fix it even. She wondered if that was why he didn’t let anyone see the truth. Because then they would expect better of him and he would feel like he had to live up to it. She was relatively sure that she hadn’t loved him then. 

That was when she started seeing through him a little more though. When she realized that there was more to him than met the eye. She learned that he loved with an all consuming passion. She remembered telling him that he had to give trust to get trust, but realized that he had given too much trust that had been betrayed and he just didn’t have it in him anymore. He’d trusted her though. Even after she turned on him, he’d still given her his trust freely, without the guarantee she’d offered him. She remembered the desperation in his eyes as he told her not to make him regret it. Even after everything that he had been through, and now that she knew more of his story, she knew that it was a lot, he had still given her that lifeline. Like he had been begging her to save him. To give him something to believe in again. Maybe that had been the start. At least for him. 

She smiled as she realized exactly when she’d first started falling for him. It had been at the Miss Mystic pageant. When Stefan stood her up and he took Stefan’s place. They connected during that dance and he had been so graceful and she remembered the feel of being in his arms. For a moment she had actually forgotten everything else. The fact that Stefan had bailed on her. Her worry over his blood issues. All that had mattered in that moment was Damon. She had tried to deny it for so long. To push it away. To remain loyal to Stefan. She could admit now that it had been a lost cause. 

Tonight though…Damon had let down all of his masks for that few minutes and let her see straight to his soul. Because he thought she wouldn’t remember it, he had been completely open with her. She had never seen him be so selfless. It had clearly torn him apart to walk away from her, but he did it anyway for her own good. She knew now what she had to do. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was the right thing. The only thing her heart would let her do now. She had to break up with Stefan and make Damon see that he was worthy of her love.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Elena woke up to a call from Stefan and sighed. She wondered if he knew somehow, but thought it might be better to get it over with. She went over to the Salvatore house and knocked on the door, not wanting to use the bell in case Damon was still sleeping this early. When the door opened though, it revealed Damon not Stefan. “Hello, Elena,” Damon said with a tight smile. 

Elena’s breath caught as she met his eyes and she wondered if his masks were just on low today or if she was able to see through them more because of last night, but she could definitely see something there. Not just the love, though she could see that too, but there was also worry and nervousness. “Stefan here? He called. Said it was important.” 

“Right this way,” Damon said stepping out of the way and waving her in. She tried not to look at him as walked by him oh so close, but she could feel his eyes on her. 

Thankfully she was distracted by Stefan coming in. “Hey,” he said betraying the same worry that Damon had and she was suddenly sure that she wasn’t going to get a chance to end things with him this morning. Apparently some new crisis was afoot. She knew she was right when Stefan stepped out of the way and she saw Rose. 

Once she got the story, she knew what she had to do, and quickly made her excuses to leave, claiming to be heading to school. She got Caroline to meet her at the tomb though and made her promise not to tell anyone and keep Stefan busy. She needed more information and there was only one source that she knew of to get it. 

Thankfully she had most of the story already when Stefan came rushing down to stop her. His insistence that Katherine was nothing but a liar seemed a little suspicious to her. Like he was trying to hide something. She put it out of her mind though. There were more important things to worry about right now. Like the fact that everyone she knew was in danger because of her. She couldn’t blame anyone else anymore. It was all on her. She fought to keep it together because she knew that if she fell apart, Stefan would comfort her and then she wouldn’t be able to do what she needed to do. Now more than ever. 

Once Stefan brought her home, she decided that it was now or never and when he pushed her to talk she agreed and pulled him over to the porch swing. “We need to break up,” she tried bluntly. 

“Listen, if this is because of what Katherine said…”

“It’s not,” Elena told him. “Really.” 

“I know this is scary, Elena, but pushing me away won’t help,” he said gently as he took her hand. 

“That’s not it, Stefan,” she jerked away from him. 

“Then why? What is it?” he asked skeptically. 

“It’s because we’re not working, Stefan. I love you, but not the way I should. Not the way I want to.” 

“No, I don’t buy that Elena,” Stefan shook his head. “You just let Katherine get under your skin is all.”

“I’m in love with Damon,” she finally had to blurt out. She hadn’t wanted to tell him that, but he just wasn’t getting the hint. 

“You…what?” Stefan asked in shock. 

“I’m sorry, Stefan. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I tried so hard to fight it, but…I realized it yesterday and it’s just…this isn’t fair to you, Stefan, I know. You don’t deserve this, and I’m sorry,” she said desperately as the tears fell. Stefan just blinked at her for a moment before he got up and walked away without another word. She managed to hold it together enough to get inside and upstairs before she fell apart. She did feel bad for what she’d done to Stefan, but she had to admit that most of her tears were for the situation she found herself in now. 

She knew that she couldn’t go to Damon now. Not when she would be dragging him into certain doom. She had to find a way to save him. To save Caroline and Tyler, Jenna, Jeremy, Ric, everyone she cared about. She had to cut as many ties as possible or she wouldn’t be able to do what she had to do. She wondered if she should write him a letter. If that would make it better or worse. Eventually she decided to write it and leave it in her bedside table. If he was messed up enough to be ransacking her room then he would need to read it. Otherwise, it was best left buried. 

She had to keep up the ruse of being okay for a few days as she refined her plan, but thankfully that was a ruse that she was more than familiar with. She kept going to school, pretended nothing was wrong, dodged Caroline’s questions about the breakup, but thankfully that was the perfect excuse for her to start pulling away from people. She didn’t have to worry about avoiding Stefan, because Stefan was avoiding her just as much. 

As such, she was more than surprised to find him along with Damon in her kitchen one morning a few days later with a plan. Apparently they were still trying to protect her. She would need to step up her own plans. She knew that theirs wouldn’t work. She pretended to accept it…after calling them idiots of course, and then instead of going to school, she went to the Salvatore house to find Rose. Learning that she and Damon had been sleeping together was a bit of a shock, but she ruthlessly quenched the pit of jealousy. She had no right to be jealous. 

It took some convincing, but she managed to get Rose to take her to Slater, but unfortunately they found Slater dead. They did manage to get into his files thanks to his girlfriend, so all wasn’t lost. When Rose found out her actual plan, she was not happy. Elena just didn’t realize how not happy until she found herself face to face with Damon. “What are you doing here?” he asked seriously. 

“What are /you/ doing here?” she replied trying to get her heart to stop racing from his sudden appearance. “You called him?” she turned to ask Rose as she walked in. 

“I’m sorry, Elena,” Rose told her. 

“You said that you understood,” Elena snapped. 

“She lied,” Damon said bluntly. After a brief interruption that he dismissed, he turned back to Elena. “Come on. We’re leaving.” 

“No,” Elena said stubbornly. 

“I said, we’re leaving,” Damon said firmly. There was no way in hell he was letting this happen. 

“I’m not going with you.”

“/You/ do not get to make decisions anymore,” Damon told her with narrowed eyes.

“When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me. Now this…this is my decision,” she refused to budge. She knew that she was being unfair, but she couldn’t let him make her leave. It didn’t matter how reckless this was. She didn’t have a choice. 

“Who’s going to save your life while you’re out making decisions,” he asked irritated. 

“You’re not listening to me, Damon. I don’t want to be saved,” she made it as clear as she could. “Not if it means that Klaus is going to kill every single person that I love.” 

Damon’s expression turned cold and Elena couldn’t deny the chills that it sent down her spine. “Get your ass out the door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself.” 

When he grabbed her arm, she struggled against his grip with a firm, “No.” 

When he still didn’t let go she tried to punch him but he caught her fist in his own. He squeezed enough to hurt and get his point across, but not enough to cause any damage as he leaned in close. So close that she could feel his breath mingling with hers. “Don’t /ever/ do that again,” he said firmly. 

Elena tried to catch her breath at his proximity as she saw his eyes dart back and forth between her eyes and her lips and she wondered for a moment if he was going to kiss her. She was taken aback at how badly she wanted him to, but she was glad when he stepped away. Getting close to him now was the worst possible idea. Still, he had gotten the point across that she couldn’t fight him. Not without another vampire on her side at least. 

He left her with Rose as he went to compel Slater’s girlfriend, before he walked back out and she could see that he was still irritated. “Time to go. Alice is soundly sleeping and won’t remember a moment of this horribly stupid day.” 

Before he even got to Elena, the doors blew open and three vampires walked in. “We’re here to meet the doppelganger,” they said. 

“Thank you for coming,” Elena said as she tried to walk towards them. 

Damon threw his arm out to stop her, hissing, “I will break your arm.” He turned back to the newcomers and said, “There’s nothing here for you.” 

The next thing they knew Elijah was there, killing the vampires that had come for Elena and Damon was shocked. He thought that Elijah was dead, but here he was. Once they were dead, Damon stepped out, firmly in front of Elena, clearly stating that if Elijah wanted Elena, then he would have to go through him. To their surprise, the original vampire left rather than take him up on the challenge. Damon wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth though. He just rushed to get Elena home, seething the whole way.


	3. Chapter 3

Damon didn’t say a word to her the whole way home and Elena could tell that he was pissed and barely holding it together. Still, he did drive her home and even walked her to the door. “Thank you for bringing me home,” she said, trying to break the ice. 

“Well your ride left you. I didn’t want to leave you stranded,” he said tensely. That and he didn’t want to give her another chance to pull a stunt like that. 

“She was just scared. She didn’t mean to run,” Elena tried to defend her. 

“Yes, she did,” Damon snapped. “She’s been running for five hundred years.”

“I can’t believe Elijah’s still alive. Why do you think he killed those two vampires and then just…let us go?” she tried to get something from him that wasn’t laced with anger. 

“If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me.” She finally gave up on calming him down and realized it was a lost cause for the night, so she went for the door only for him to grab her arm. “What you did today was incredibly stupid,” he said heatedly. 

“Actually, the only thing that was stupid was that I got caught,” she replied in the same tone, trying to pull her arm away from him. “I don’t question why you try so hard to save me. You shouldn’t question why I would try to save you.” She didn’t realize that she had let on too much until Damon blinked curiously at her, but she was saved by the door opening. “Have a good night, okay?” she said with a note of finality before noticing Jeremy’s current state. 

“What?” Damon asked Jeremy wearily, suspecting another disaster that he was going to have to try and fix. 

When he told them what happened, Damon found himself once again racing after Elena to save her from doing something stupid. Stefan had told him that they broke up, but wouldn’t say a word about why, but given her reaction it was obviously not as done a deal as he thought. He got to the cave first and laid in wait for her, waiting until she started to go inside before he grabbed her and pulled her back, shoving her against the wall. “Don’t you dare,” he growled.

“Stefan’s in there, Damon,” she protested, struggling against his grip. “How could you let this happen?”

“What are you talking about? I was too busy trying to save you from your crazy kamikaze mission,” he snapped. How dare she try to blame him?

“You didn’t even have to go after the moonstone in the first place,” she snapped.

“It was the right call, Elena,” Damon protested. 

“Right call? How is any of this the right call?!” she yelled, fighting him more and pummeling his chest. “Let go of me!” She kept hitting him harder, getting frantic. “Damon, let go of me! Let go of me! Let go!” the fight went out of her and she just begged, “Please.” 

When Damon saw that she was calm, he asked, “You done?” When she didn’t fight anymore, he let go and raised his hands in a placating gesture as he slowly stepped back, ready to intervene if she went for the door again, but giving her space. When she did try for the door, he stepped in front of her and raised his finger, tsking in warning. She gave him a deadly glare before storming out. Once she was gone, he turned back to the cave as Stefan finally came out. “Of all the idiot plans, Stefan. I’ll find a way to get you out,” he promised. 

“Ah, it’s alright. I’ll uh…I’ll handle myself. Bonnie has the moonstone. Work with her. Try to figure how to despell it,” Stefan told him. 

“You martyr yourself into a tomb and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch,” Damon sighed. “Wonderful.”

“Keep Elena away from here,” Stefan told him. 

“Yeah. Cause that’ll be easy,” Damon rolled his eyes. 

“Promise me…no matter what happens…you’ll protect her,” Stefan said seriously. 

“Promise.” Like there was anything else he could do. 

“Take care of her, Damon,” Stefan said with a sad smile. 

Damon nodded at him before leaving, trying to figure out what that last comment meant. On the surface it was clear, but he knew his brother. There was another meaning behind it. He just didn’t know what. He knew that Stefan wouldn’t tell him though. There was only one place to go if he was going to keep his promise though. When he got back to Elena’s he found Jeremy and Bonnie downstairs trying to figure something out with the moonstone, but Elena wasn’t there. Jeremy said she was in bed, but he went up to check for himself before he relaxed and joined them back in the kitchen to try and help. 

They didn’t get anywhere before they quit for the night. He pretended to leave when Bonnie did and Jeremy went to bed, but he was right back in Elena’s window a few minutes later. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight until he knew that she was done with the suicidal stunts. Even if it wore him to the ground. Once he started dozing off, he knew that he needed something to keep him awake so he got up and started looking around silently. Maybe reading her diary would be interesting enough. At the very least, he had some questions he wanted answered. Like why she had broken up with Stefan and why his brother was so tight-lipped about the whole thing. 

He didn’t find her diary, but he did find an envelope with his name on it in her bedside drawer, hidden underneath a bunch of other crap. Since it had his name on it he didn’t even have to feel bad about reading it. He went to sit in the window seat so he could see by the light of the almost full moon as he took the letter out of the envelope and started to read. 

Damon,  
If you’re reading this, then I’m gone and you’re probably not handling it well if ransacking my room is any indication. (Damon snorted in amusement.) I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse, and I debated taking the secret to my grave, but even the chance that it will help you find peace is worth it. Besides, Stefan knows which means you probably already do anyway, so you should hear it from me, so to speak, at least once. I love you, Damon. (He sat up straight in shock, re-reading that half a dozen times to make sure he read it right.) I never meant to fall in love with you, but I did. I hate that I hurt Stefan so much, but I just couldn’t help it. Don’t mourn for me. Move on. Live your life. Find happiness again. (‘Like that would ever happen,’ he thought.)  
If I hadn’t done this, Klaus would have killed everyone I’ve ever known. I had no choice. I had to save everyone, but mostly to save you. Every death that my life cost would destroy me, but yours would be the worst. Watching you die in a useless attempt to save me would break me, Damon. Please understand that. At least this way I get to know that my death meant something. That my death saved your life. Know that I loved you until my last breath, Damon. Goodbye. 

Damon fought the urge to ball up the letter and throw it at her. For her to think that he could be saved at all by her death…it was ridiculous and insulting. He took a few deep breaths for calm before he turned his mind to the rest of the letter, and he couldn’t help but smile. At least one good thing had come of this disastrous night. She loved him. He had no idea how or why, but apparently she did. 

He went back to re-read the letter again. Stefan knew. That was why they broke up. The question was whether he figured it out or if she told him. Stefan hadn’t even told him who dumped who. It didn’t really matter right now though. What mattered was that Stefan knew that she loved him, and he knew that Damon loved her, and he hadn’t said a word. As much as part of him wanted to be pissed at his brother for that, he knew that he shouldn’t be. Maybe he would have if it had been longer since the breakup, or if Stefan hadn’t asked him to take care of her like he did, or even if he hadn’t gotten himself locked in a freaking tomb with a manipulative bitch. As it was though, he couldn’t be mad at Stefan. 

Elena, he could be mad at though. For thinking for one second that her life was worth less than his. That he would ever accept that trade. That her making it wouldn’t shatter him into a million pieces. It was bad enough when it was her trying to protect everyone else, but for her to sacrifice herself for him was just…unthinkable. He didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve an ounce of her love even. He didn’t deserve any of this, but she was going to do it anyway. 

When he noticed her starting to stir, he used his vampire speed to grab the pencil off her desk, scribble a note on the envelope, so she would know he read the letter, and set it on her pillow before disappearing out the window before she even managed to roll over. 

Elena stretched awake and realized that her arm bumped something that shouldn’t have been there, so she opened her eyes and picked it up. She sucked in a sharp breath when she noticed Damon’s name on the front. Oh god, had he found the letter? She turned it over and read the note scribbled on the back. ‘Getting yourself killed won’t save me. I refuse to live in a world where you aren’t. If I’m not standing in front of you, I’ll be following behind you. If you really want to save me, you’ll live. Let’s find another way. -DS’.


	4. Chapter 4

Elena was completely taken aback by the note before the anger hit her, and she got up storming down the stairs. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was here, trying to keep an eye on her or something. She got lucky when she found him in the kitchen. “You snooped through my room while I was sleeping?!” 

“Oh, you do /not/ get to start the stone-throwing, here,” Damon said crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, completely forgetting about the rest of the room. Pulling an all-nighter definitely wasn’t doing much for his mood. “You were going to tell me that you were in love with me in a letter! That I wouldn’t have gotten until you were dead! If I ever even got it at all!”

“Oh my god!” Bonnie exclaimed clapping her hand over her mouth as her eyes went wide. When two glares were sent her way, she took a step back. “Right…sorry…” she reached out to grab Jeremy’s shirt. “We should go…um…”

“Anywhere but here,” Jeremy said bluntly seeing that she was at a loss for words and all but dragged her upstairs. They could brainstorm in his room for a while. 

Once they were alone, Elena rounded on Damon again. “You wouldn’t have even known about the letter if you had just minded your own business!” 

“Obviously you meant for me to find it, or you wouldn’t have written it,” he snapped. 

“You weren’t supposed to find it now! You shouldn’t even be in my room while I’m sleeping in the first place!”

“Well someone has to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t go off on another suicidal stunt.”

“Well you just found the one way to make sure I won’t, now,” she said waving his note in the air. “You’ve put me in a position where I either have to sacrifice you too or risk everyone else I’ve ever cared about.”

“Maybe now you know how it feels then,” he growled. “To love someone so completely that you would sacrifice anyone or anything for them.” 

She gaped at him for a moment before she lunged at him and kissed him desperately, tangling her hands in his hair. He spun them around so that her back was against the wall as he kissed her back with equal fervor. Things were starting to get out of hand when there was a throat clearing behind them and they broke apart. Elena felt her face flush as she tried to catch her breath and fix her disheveled clothes. Her whole body was on fire, everywhere that Damon’s hands or lips had touched which was pretty much everywhere. 

Damon managed to look mostly together, despite the fact that his shirt was hanging open and he was out of breath too. He just covered it up better. “We’re gonna go consult with another witch friend of Bonnie’s,” Jeremy said, pointedly not looking at them. 

Damon took a deep breath to get himself under control before he strode over and plucked the moonstone from Jeremy’s hand. “I’ll just hold onto this until you have an actual plan that will work.” 

“That’s probably a good idea,” Bonnie admitted before pulling Jeremy out the door. 

Once they were alone again, Damon turned to Elena with a smirk. “That’s one way to end a fight.” 

Elena’s blush just got brighter at that as she smacked him and went over to plop on the couch. “You really think we can find another way?” she asked hopefully, trying to change the subject. 

Damon sat down next to her and took her hand. “I know we can. Because I refuse to let you die.” 

“Just remember that if you die for me, there’s nothing stopping me from carrying out my original plan,” she told him, not wanting him to get himself killed trying to save her. 

Damon couldn’t really dispute that so he just sighed. “Then it’s settled. Live or die, we do it together.” 

“Seems that way, doesn’t it,” she huffed a nervous laugh. 

Damon took a few deep breaths before doing what he knew he had to. He took her hand and looked sadly at her. “I will always be here for you in any way I can, but I don’t deserve you, Elena. You deserve someone kind and caring.”

“Maybe you’re right. But I couldn’t be happy like that,” she told him, knowing that he was referring to Stefan. “What I need is someone who challenges me. Pushes me. Someone who can keep me on my toes. I can’t say what I deserve, but what I want Damon, is you. What I /need/ is you.” She remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know that he loved her so she added, “If you don’t feel the same way about me, that’s okay, but…” 

Damon cut her off with a hard kiss. “Jesus, Elena. I just told you that I would die without you. How can you not know that I love you with everything I am. I just…I can’t be what you want me to be.” 

“And what is it you think I want you to be?” she asked. 

“Someone better. I’m not a good guy, Elena.”

“I know that,” she told him. “But you’re not a bad guy either, Damon. Yeah you do bad things sometimes, but you do good things too. I don’t want to change you.” A few weeks ago she definitely would have been singing a different tune, but she could see behind the walls he kept up now. She wanted him to be his real self, not the self that he tried to project to the world, but she knew that telling him that would do more harm than good and the best way to bring that to the surface was just to accept him. Within reason. “I love you, Damon. Just the way you are.” 

He gaped at her for a good long moment before pulling her into a searing kiss before pulling back to say, “I love you too, Elena.” 

“So no more sleeping with Rose then?” she asked with a smirk. 

“You know about that huh?” Damon chuckled nervously. “I hope you’re not expecting me to apologize for it.”

“Of course not,” she told him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. But in the future…”

“I’m with you now, Elena. And only you. For as long as you want me,” he assured her. “I’ll make sure Rose gets a different room if she’s gonna stick around.”

“Good,” Elena said kissing him again. “Now all that’s settled, did you get any sleep at all last night?” 

“No,” Damon admitted. “I was too worried about you slipping away and being all suicidal again.” 

“Since we have that whole mess settled now, you should go home and get some sleep,” she told him.

“I don’t know,” he said nervously. 

“I promise I won’t try to give myself up again,” she assured him. 

“You won’t leave the house?” 

“I won’t be a prisoner in this house, Damon, but I won’t do anything reckless either. Risking myself is one thing, but now I’d be risking you too and I won’t do that.” 

“I’ll hold you to that,” he told her softly, pulling her in for one more long slow kiss before heading out. 

He didn’t go home just yet though. He had a few other things to do first. He went out and got some things together for Stefan and took them to the cave. Until he found a way to get his brother out of there he had to at least make sure he was taken care of. When he tried to give him the bottle of animal blood though, Stefan tried to argue. “If you give that to me, I’ll just have to share it with her,” he pointed out. 

“Better than desiccation,” Damon told him, handing it over anyway. “I’ll bring more next time. If feeding her is the price for feeding you, so be it.” He felt more than a little guilty right now given how he’d essentially stolen Stefan’s girl. This was the least he could do. 

Once that was done, he finally made it home and passed out. When he woke up that afternoon, he texted Elena to check in, and texted him right back that she was fine and not contemplating any suicidal actions. When she added that she loved him, he smiled and sent back the same before heading downstairs to find that Rose was back. When she came over to try and kiss him, he pushed her away. “Sorry, Rose. No can do.”

“If this is because of taking Elena to Richmond, I swear I didn’t know what she was planning…” Rose tried to explain. 

“No, it’s not that. Well okay. It’s a little bit that,” Damon said with a shrug. “But mostly it’s just that I’m unavailable now so to speak.”

“You got together with her? What happened to caring gets you dead?” Rose asked pointedly. 

“Yeah, see…that may be true…but if I didn’t care then I might as well be dead so…” Damon finished with a wave of his hand, knowing she would get it. 

“It’s your funeral,” she told him, refilling her drink. “I guess that means I should take off then.” 

“You don’t have to,” Damon said, grabbing a drink of his own. “You just have to pick your own room.” 

Rose was surprised at that. She wouldn’t have thought that Elena would trust Damon that far. Especially knowing that they’d been sleeping together. She was glad though. She hated being alone and now that Trevor was gone…maybe she would stick around for a few more days. Just until she figured out where to go next. “Okay then,” she agreed. “So tell me everything,” she grinned and settled in for some good gossip. Damon laughed and rolled his eyes, but told her what happened since they’d got home from Richmond.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Damon was just heading down the stairs, still half asleep, when he heard the doorbell and detoured in that direction. After sleeping most of the day yesterday, he’d been up late last night. Finding Bonnie standing on the doorstep was a bit of a surprise. She never came to see him unless Elena dragged her there. “It’s too early for whatever disaster you’re bringing me,” he said wearily. 

Bonnie couldn’t help but laugh at that as she shook her head. “No disaster. Just the opposite actually. We found a way to despell the moonstone.”

“Well that’s a different story,” Damon perked up. “Come on in and let’s get to work.”

“Actually, I’m going to have to take it with me,” she told him as she followed him inside. 

“Nope. Not gonna happen,” Damon shook his head. “That moonstone is the only leverage we have for Elena’s life. It’s not leaving my sight.”

“I get that Damon, but you know that I care about Elena as much as you do. I wouldn’t take the risk if I wasn’t sure. It’s going to take more than just me to do it and it has to be done during the full moon tonight.” 

“Then get whoever you need and bring them here,” Damon told her as though that should solve the problem. 

“They’re already risking a lot by helping me. There is no way they’re going to follow me to a vampires house even if I was in a position to make demands,” Bonnie explained. 

Damon sighed heavily as he thought it over. If it was for him, he wouldn’t trust Bonnie in the slightest, but this was for Elena. She wouldn’t risk Elena for anything. “Wait here.” He headed upstairs and grabbed the moonstone from his hiding place and came back. When he placed it in her hand he kept ahold of it long enough to say, “I’m only trusting you because it’s for Elena.” 

“I know, Damon. And thank you,” she said as he let go of the stone. She knew that she had earned his distrust after the incident with the Gilbert device last month, but was glad that he at least knew that she wouldn’t risk Elena. Now that she had it, she headed for Luca’s so that he could help her get rid of the curse on it. 

Once Bonnie was gone, he got a call from Ric and sighed. Now this one would be the daily disaster. It couldn’t even wait until he had breakfast apparently. Learning that Mason Lockwood was declared a missing person and that some woman who may or may not be a werewolf was looking for him definitely qualified as a disaster. He and Ric quickly made a plan and since he had a little time he had a few stops to make first. On the way, he grabbed a couple bottles of animal blood and dropped them by to Stefan and then checked in on Elena. He wished he could have stayed longer, but at least he got a few kisses out of the deal before Jeremy interrupted them. 

Elena headed up to her room, too worried about Damon dealing with a werewolf to be very social. At least it was still daytime though. She didn’t leave her room until she heard voices and suddenly found herself face to face with Elijah. In her home. This wasn’t good. Jenna must have invited him in. When he offered her a deal to simply do nothing for now she didn’t see a choice but to accept it, but still used the deal to get Stefan free. It did give her an idea for her own plan though. It would be tricky and she didn’t have nearly enough information yet to refine it, but it was a start. Unfortunately, if Elijah was going to be around, she wouldn’t be able to tell anyone. There was no way to know when he was listening or who his spies were. He could even compel vampires after all, so she would have to be very careful. 

When Damon called her later and told her about the threats from the werewolf and that Ric suggested that he go home lock the doors and hunker down until morning, Elena had to agree with him. “As much as I would love to see you tonight, staying safe is the most important thing. We’ll talk tomorrow,” she said, deciding not to tell him about Elijah and the deal until then. He had enough to worry about tonight and if she told him, he would come straight to her to protect her and leave himself too exposed. She didn’t doubt that she was perfectly safe from Elijah for the moment. She knew that would change at some point, but for now, it was fine. 

The next morning, she woke up to a text from Damon to call him when she got it, so she did. “Hey, Damon. What’s up?” 

“Which news do you want first? The werewolf break-in that got Rose bit or the fact that Stefan is free apparently due to some deal you made with Elijah?” Damon asked irritated. 

“Oh god. Is Rose gonna be okay?” 

“No, Elena. She’s dying,” he said bluntly. 

“I’ll come right over,” she said, able to hear the slight waver in his voice that told her that he wasn’t taking it well.

“Thank you, Elena,” Damon said with a hint of relief in his voice. “But don’t think you’re off the hook about Elijah either.”

“That’s not as bad as you’re probably thinking, but we can talk about it later,” she promised him as she got up and threw some clothes on. “I’ll see you soon.”

When she got there, she went right in since Damon was expecting her and headed upstairs to look for him. Seeing Rose in his bed jolted her for a second but then she remembered that Rose was dying and realized that they were both fully clothed so she put it out of her mind for now. “Elena, I’m glad you’re here. I need to go handle a little werewolf issue. Will you stay with Rose until I get back?” 

Elena easily agreed, glad to put off the Elijah talk for a little while longer, but still told him, “Please be careful, Damon. I know she can’t bite you anymore, but…”

“I’ll be fine, Elena. Now that the full moon is over, she’s no match for me,” he assured her. Elena pulled him into a long kiss before he left, in a little better mood than he had been in when she got there. 

Elena looked around the room curiously as she sat down next to Rose. “You’ve never been in Damon’s room before have you?” Rose asked her. She wasn’t sure how to answer that, so she didn’t. She picked up the top of one of the many books stacked beside the bed and huffed a laugh when she saw that it was Gone With the Wind. “Not what you expected?” 

Elena was a little uncomfortable talking about this with Rose of all people, so she just shrugged. “It’s just a room with a bed,” she said shifting to look at Rose. “Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets,” she joked. 

Rose laughed a little but could see Elena’s discomfort and tried to set her at ease. “You’re lucky you know. No one’s ever loved me the way you’re loved.” 

Elena couldn’t help but smile at that even as she said, “I doubt that.” When Rose started talking about being on the run and being too afraid to put down roots, Elena started to doubt the plan that she had been pondering, but she knew she wasn’t likely to get a better option. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to keep her eyes open for one though. When Rose got onto her about the deal with Elijah, she so badly wanted to share her plan, but she didn’t dare. Even if Rose was dying, there was too much risk of her telling someone else, like she had when she tried to give herself up to Klaus. Granted it was a different situation, but it didn’t mean she could take the chance. That didn’t make it any easier to hear when Rose was disgusted with her for not even trying to run. If only she knew.

Later on, when Rose started hallucinating and came after her, she proved that she could run when it was needed. When it would do any good. She locked herself in a storage room and barricaded the door, breaking off a chair leg to use as a stake in case it was needed. She didn’t want to kill Rose, but she was already dying. If it came down to kill or be killed, she would deal. After a while, she didn’t hear anything anymore so she went out to try and find her, creeping as quietly as she could through the house.


	6. Chapter 6

When she sensed something behind her, she spun, stake at the ready to find Damon who just raised his eyebrows, looking between her and the stake in her hand. “You okay?” he asked worriedly before it dawned on him. “Where’s Rose?” 

“She was hallucinating. She attacked. I hid, but then I didn’t hear anything else…I think she left. I’m sorry, Damon.”

Damon pulled her into a hug. “No, shh. It’s okay. You did the right thing. You kept yourself safe,” he assured her as he pulled back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll find her. Come on. Keep that stake handy just in case.” 

Elena was surprised that he was letting her come, but wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. At least he wasn’t trying to keep her locked up away from any potential trouble like Stefan always tried to. She doubted he would leave her side though, but that was okay. They started by checking at the highest concentration of people which was the carnival, and no sooner than they got there, Damon got a call. “That was Liz. I’ll be right back,” he told her. “Be careful and stay put if you can.” 

When he came back, they went around the side of the school. “She’s here,” he told her, as they walked through the parking lot. It didn’t take long to find her feeding on someone and Damon jumped in and after a brief fight Damon had her pinned. Elena was horrified at the sight. Not as much what Rose had done, though that was bad, but the state Rose was in was even worse. She watched Damon try to calm the hysterical vampire down before picking her up in his arms and carrying her home. Seeing how kind he was being just made her love him more, but that was nothing compared to what came later. 

Elena gave Damon a minute to get Rose settled before she stepped quietly in the doorway to check on her. “I’m sorry, Elena,” Rose said before Damon even noticed her presence. “I don’t like taking human life. I never have.” 

Damon spun to look at her. “You shouldn’t be here,” he told her. He didn’t want to risk Rose losing it and going after her again. He was already kicking himself enough for leaving her earlier just to go after simple revenge. 

“That’s the worst part about it,” Rose said weakly, almost like she was in a daze. “The hunt. The need to kill. The thirst. The pleasure it brings you afterwards. It hurts.”

“Then stop talking about it,” Damon snapped irritably. He didn’t like thinking about it either.

Damon turned away as Elena stepped forward, closer to Rose, who told Elena, “Damon’s a lot like me. He wants to care, but when he does he runs away from it. Don’t let him,” she said desperately. She realized now how much she had missed by running and didn’t want Damon to miss out on the same things. “You need to fight,” she addressed to them both, knowing that Damon was listening too. “I know that you’re scared, but you have to do it anyway,” 

It wasn’t long after that when Rose started convulsing and Elena started to panic, so Damon rushed back over. “What do we do?” Elena asked. 

“Go,” Damon told her, getting up on the bed with Rose, and pulling her into his arms. 

“Damon…” Elena said, wanting to help. 

“Just go. I got this,” Damon told her, rubbing Rose’s arms and running a hand through her hair as she writhed in pain begging to die. 

Elena didn’t go far though. She waited outside the door, letting her tears fall silently, knowing that Damon didn’t want her to see this, but not wanting to actually leave. She considered going back in when Rose stopped crying, but when she heard the vampire say, “Who ever thought you’d be a nice guy?” she smiled and kept listening. 

“I’m not nice. I’m mean,” Damon replied lightly. “And I like it.”

“You lie,” Rose told him, not realizing that the thought was echoed by Elena outside the door. 

“Shh. Just sleep,” Damon said soothingly. “Just sleep.” He held her hand and rubbed her arm, taking her into a dream. 

When Elena didn’t hear anything for a minute after that, she stepped back into the doorway, planning to keep Damon company as they waited, but when she saw his eyes closed too, she reconsidered just in time to hear Rose say softly, “This was my favorite place to come as a girl. How did you know?” 

Elena bit her lip to keep from disturbing them as she realized what Damon was doing, and her silent tears fell heavier. “Word gets around,” she heard Damon reply before he smiled and said, “You told Elena.” 

“Am I dreaming?” Rose asked. Elena wondered how Damon responded to that in the dream since he didn’t say anything out loud. After a pause Rose smiled. “The sun is so warm. I missed this. I miss being human.”

“Humanity’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Damon replied. 

“I had friends. I had a family. I mattered,” she said sadly. 

“You still do,” Damon replied. 

“No,” Rose told him. “But you do.” Elena smiled sadly at that. Yes, Damon most definitely mattered, but Rose did too, no matter what she thought. “You’ve built a life whether you want to admit it or not. I’ve spent five hundred years just existing.” 

“You didn’t have a choice. You were running from Klaus,” Damon told her. 

“No, there’s always a choice,” Rose insisted and Elena wondered if she knew that she was here. 

“You know, you are ruining our perfect day with your strange philosophical babbling,” Damon said lightly and Elena almost laughed. That was just like Damon. Deflecting whenever things got too deep. 

“I’d like to enjoy the fresh air. Would you enjoy it with me?” Rose asked him. 

Damon smiled, “For a while,” he replied. Elena wished she could see what they were seeing, but wasn’t about to intrude, even if she could have. This was for them. Their goodbye. She smiled as she saw their fingers lace together as she thanked him. “For what?” 

“The pain’s gone,” Rose told him. 

“I’m glad,” Damon practically whispered, leaning his head against hers. 

“Will I see them again? My family?” Rose asked him. 

“I think you will see whoever you want to see,” Damon said softly. Elena wiped some of the tears from her face. That had been the perfect answer. 

“That will be nice,” Rose said and Elena could hear her voice getting weaker. “Maybe I’ll see Trevor too…I’m not afraid anymore.” 

Elena saw Damon’s eyes open, and when he saw her standing there, he waved his hand for her to go before reaching for the stake as Rose said, “I’ll race you to the trees.” Elena shook her head, refusing to leave and moving over to sit next to him, running a hand through his hair soothingly, knowing that she was doing the right thing when he leaned into her touch. As soon as she made contact with him, she could see the dream he was giving her but they didn’t seem to be able to see her. 

“Well, you’ll lose,” Damon said as he got the stake poised, tears glistening in his own eyes as he tried not to lose it. 

Elena watched as Rose shook her head, still holding Damon’s hand. “I’m older and faster.”

“Oh you think?” Damon said playfully as he hopped to his feet, and Elena knew that the dream wasn’t reflecting real life at all because even though she was seeing this, she could still feel his tears against her arm somehow. “Well I’m controlling this dream. Maybe I’ll cheat.”

Rose laughed and said, “On the count of three.” 

Somehow Elena already knew that they weren’t going to race. Sure enough, just as Rose said three, the dream ended and she found herself fully back in the present as Damon choked a sob, Rose’s body withering in his arms. Elena wrapped her arm around him and moved her hand to his cheek, without a word. There was nothing to say. She just hoped he would let her be here for him. After a moment he leaned his head on her shoulder and turned her face to his neck as his tears fell. She ran a hand through his hair and kissed his head. 

After a few minutes he sat back up, angrily wiping the tears from his eyes as he said, “I need to go get rid of the body. I’ll see you tomorrow, Elena.” 

He got up and picked Rose up gently as Elena said, “Damon…” but he was already gone. She sighed heavily and went downstairs to wait for him. She wasn’t going home right now. Not when he was hurting like this. She’d all but promised Rose not to let him run away, and she wasn’t going to break a deathbed promise even if she wanted to.


	7. Chapter 7

It was more than an hour before he came back in the door, slamming it behind him and she got up to meet him. “You were supposed to leave,” he told her. 

“No, I wasn’t. Not until I’m sure you’re okay,” she told him, handing him a drink that she had ready for him. 

“I appreciate the gesture. I’m just glad it’s over,” Damon told her as he tossed back the drink. 

Elena resisted the urge to wince. Apparently, it was full denial time. She had known what she was signing up for with him though. “You know I don’t believe that.” 

“Just go home, Elena. Get some rest. It’s a whole new day tomorrow,” he said tiredly. 

“Damon, I love you. I can see that you’re hurting,” she said gently as she took a few steps towards him.

“What do you want to hear? That I cared about Rose? That I’m upset? Well I didn’t and I’m not,” he snapped turning away from her. 

“There you go. Pretending to turn it off. Pretending not to feel,” she called him on it. 

He spun back around to look at her. “I feel Elena. Okay? And it sucks. What sucks even more is that it was supposed to be me. Jules was coming after me.”

“You feel guilty,” Elena realized. 

“That would be human of me wouldn’t it, Elena,” Damon said roughly moving up close to her. Elena felt her breath hitch at the cold look in his eyes, but she knew that no matter how off he was, he would never hurt her. “But I’m not human.” 

“That doesn’t mean you don’t feel,” she said gently, sliding her hands up his arms. 

Damon stepped away and waved her to the door. “Go home. There’s been enough doom, gloom, and personal growth for one night.” 

Elena just reached out and pulled him into a hug. “No,” she said softly. “I’m staying.” 

Damon tried very hard to hold it together as she hugged him, his hands unconsciously going to her sides as he felt the sobs welling up in him again and he bit his lip to hold them back. He didn’t want her to see him lose it, but after a minute he couldn’t hold it back anymore and wrenched himself out of her grip, grabbing his glass and throwing it into the fire as it shattered. 

Elena couldn’t help but wince at the shattering glass, but put a comforting hand on his back. She took a few steps back when he grabbed the fireplace poker and started swinging it at the bricks. She knew that he would feel horrible if he hurt her, so she stayed out of the way and let him get it out the way he knew best. She realized why he had tried to get her to leave, but was glad she didn’t. If they were going to work, she had to prove that she could handle him. Good and bad. 

That was why when the poker fell from his hands and he hit his knees, she was right there kneeling next to him and pulling him into her arms. “It was supposed to be me,” he cried into her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist. “She pushed me out of the way. Why would she do that?” 

“Because she loved you, Damon,” Elena whispered, pressing a kiss to his head. 

“I’m the bad guy,” he protested. “I didn’t deserve her sacrifice. I don’t deserve yours. I don’t deserve any of it. Why…” his throat closed up and he couldn’t get any more out.

“Don’t you see, Damon? If you were really the bad guy, you wouldn’t feel this way. You wouldn’t care how many people sacrificed for you. You would sacrifice them yourself. But you don’t. You couldn’t. No matter how much you may try, you could never be a bad guy, Damon. You don’t have it in you. You deserve so much more than you think you do.” 

“I could turn it off,” Damon said heartbrokenly. “It would be so easy. Why can’t I just turn it off?” 

Elena shifted so that she was facing him and put her hands to his cheeks. “Because it wouldn’t solve anything, Damon. It would just bring so much more pain. You just wouldn’t be able to feel it yourself. It would be putting it on other people, and that’s not you.”

Damon wrenched himself away from her and got up. “Of course, it’s me, Elena. You have no idea who I am. What I am.” 

Elena huffed and got up, moving in front of him and putting her hand on his chest. “Go ahead then,” she challenged, pulling her hair to the side and tilting her head. “Turn it off and kill me, if that’s what you want.” 

Damon took a step back and shook his head, “Elena…” he warned. 

“No, if that’s who you are then do it. Come on,” she grabbed his head and pulled his mouth to her neck. “Kill me.” 

Damon wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and pulled her against him, and even if he’d been planning to do it, the fact that she didn’t even flinch at that…that she trusted him so completely…he couldn’t have done it if he wanted to. He pressed a kiss to her neck where she was holding him and buried his face there as he took a few deep breaths to center himself. 

Elena’s grip on his head loosened and her hand carded through his hair. “I’m here, Damon, and I’m not going anywhere. No matter how much you try to push me away. You deserve to be loved, Damon. And you are.” 

Damon pulled back and looked in her eyes, hands going to her cheeks. “I love you, Elena. I’m sorry.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she said softly as she ran her hands along his arms. When he leaned in to kiss her, she sank into it gratefully. 

Stefan slipped silently in the front door, hearing Damon on one of his rampages, and not wanting to get involved. It was until he was halfway to the stairs that he realized he heard a heartbeat too and rushed over to peek in the door, seeing Elena standing there watching him. He considered intervening and getting her out of there, but stopped himself. He had to remember that she wasn’t his girlfriend anymore. If she thought she loved Damon, then seeing this might be good for her. Make her realize how bad of an idea it was at least. 

Stefan didn’t go far though. If Damon hurt her he would intervene, whether she was his or not, but otherwise Elena needed to see what she would be getting into. He was surprised that she hadn’t run yet, but not as surprised as he was when she was suddenly right by his side as he crumpled. He listened to their conversation and almost jumped in when she started taunting him to kill her, but held himself back. He would wait until he smelled blood. Give him the chance to prove to her what he was actually like. 

No matter how much better Damon got, when he was upset he hurt people. It was just an immutable fact of who he was. Not this time though. Stefan’s brow furrowed confusedly when he calmed and then even apologized. Had Elena really managed to defuse him so easily? Maybe he was wrong and they were better together than he thought. He moved back towards the stairs to head up when they started kissing. He really didn’t want to see that. He had stopped being quiet though and was soon caught up to by Damon. “Just thought you might want to know…Rose is gone.” 

“I figured,” Stefan said sadly, sending him an apologetic look, glancing at Elena behind him. “I’m headed to bed.” 

“Stefan, wait,” Elena said stepping forward. She knew that there was a good chance that he’d seen her and Damon. “I’m sorry.” 

Stefan just gave her a sad smile. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” he told her. “You can’t help how you feel. I hope you two are happy together.” 

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” she said. 

“It’s fine. I haven’t exactly been available to find out any other way. Goodnight,” he said with a note of finality before continuing up the stairs. Just because he was trying to be okay with it didn’t mean that he wanted to talk about it. Or see it. Not yet anyway. 

Once he was gone, Elena sighed sadly. “I feel so horrible for doing this to him.” 

“I know,” Damon said, wrapping her in his arms. “So do I.” He took a deep breath before saying, “Maybe we should take a step back for a little while. 

Elena shook her head against his chest. “No! I mean…I know we should, but…with everything going on right now…I just…I need you, Damon. I can’t waste any time I could have with you.”

“Hey,” Damon stepped back and looked seriously at her. “You’re not gonna die, remember. We’re finding another way.” 

“No, I know. But there are still no guarantees. Look at what happened to Rose. Whether I die tomorrow or fifty years from now, I still don’t want to waste a minute.” 

Damon nodded and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Okay then. We’re in this until the end,” he gave her a lop-sided smile. 

Stefan couldn’t help his own sad smile as he heard their conversation, and it just made him even more determined to come to terms with the two of them together. With the treats baring down on them right now, the last thing they needed was this kind of distraction. Not if they were all going to survive this. He would love to know how Damon had managed to talk Elena out of doing anything reckless though. That was almost as big a feat as Elena pulling Damon back from the edge a little while ago.


	8. Chapter 8

“You should probably get home,” Damon told Elena. “It’s getting late.” 

Elena shook her head. “I already texted Jenna and let her know I’m staying here tonight.” He wasn’t trying to push her away anymore by sending her home, but she still wanted to be here for him. 

“Is that so,” Damon smirked suggestively. 

Elena laughed and kissed him. “Yes. It is.” 

“Then maybe we should go to bed,” he grinned, and she followed him upstairs. 

The next two hours were the best of Elena’s life as she realized that the all-consuming way that Damon loved definitely translated to the bedroom. It was like he just lost himself in her, completely surrendering to the moment and she found herself doing the same. She had never been loved like this, in or out of the bedroom, and it was a heady thing. She had never loved anyone like this either and she knew that she would never be able to get enough. It wasn’t long afterwards before she fell asleep in Damon’s arms for the first of what would hopefully be many times. 

Elena woke the next morning to find Damon already awake and watching her with a smile. “Good morning,” he said softly as she opened her eyes. 

“Good morning,” she purred curling closer to him. “I like this. Waking up with you.”

“I do hope to make it a habit,” Damon chuckled, running a hand through her hair. 

“I can definitely live with that,” Elena agreed, pressing a sloppy kiss to his chest, before she pulled herself out of bed to use the bathroom. “I’ll be right back,” she laughed as he whined at her leaving. When she got back, she hopped into the bed, bouncing closer to him. “See?” she kissed him. “Back.” Another kiss. He pulled her close and gave her another longer kiss, before pulling back just to look at her framed in the sunlight coming in the window. “What’s that face?” Elena asked with a smile, reaching out to brush his cheek. 

“I’m happy,” Damon told her. 

“Good. I’m glad,” Elena said, kissing him again and it was another hour before they managed to get out of bed.

She grabbed one of his button up shirts to put on, making him chuckle. He grabbed the sides of the shirt and pulled her to him, buttoning it up for her. “I think it looks even better on you than it does on me, and that’s saying something.” 

Elena laughed. “Careful or I won’t be able to fit in the room with your big head,” she teased, kissing the tip of his nose before heading for the door. “You have anything breakfast food like here?” she asked as they got to the kitchen, despite it being a little after noon. 

Damon walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal and set it on the table as he grabbed her a bowl, spoon, and the milk. “Count Chocula?” she asked with an incredulous laugh. 

“I never get tired of the look on Stefan’s face when I buy it,” Damon told her amusedly as she poured a bowl. “Will it gross you out if I grab a blood bag while you’re eating or I can drink it downstairs.”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind,” she told him. She wasn’t going to ask him to hide away for something that was so natural for him. He grinned and disappeared in a blur and was back a moment later sipping on a blood bag. 

They were just cleaning up from breakfast when Damon’s phone rang and he stepped into the other room to answer it. When he came back, Elena noticed the look on his face before he said, “Well, looks like reality intrudes. Do you need a ride home or do you want to stick around here until I get back?” 

“Where are you going? What happened?” Elena asked worriedly. 

“It seems dear Caroline has gone and gotten herself captured by the werewolf. Stefan and I need to go rescue her,” Damon told her. 

“Ugh,” Elena stomped her foot. “Next chance we get, I want you to teach me how to fight. I’m tired of having to sit around helplessly while my friends are in danger.” 

Damon snorted amusedly as he shook his head. At least she wasn’t arguing to go along. “If you’ll promise to stay out of things as much as possible until I say you’re ready.” 

“Okay,” Elena agreed. She knew that she would be nothing but a liability right now, and putting herself in danger also put Damon in danger trying to protect her. She’d learned that lesson by now. That didn’t mean she liked it. “If you promise not to try and coddle me when I am.” When Damon nodded, she said, “My car is here, so I’ll just head home.”

“I’ll follow you,” Damon told her. “I don’t want to take any chances with werewolves out for blood.” 

Elena rolled her eyes and sighed. “Only if the delay doesn’t put Caroline in any more danger.”

“They set a meeting time for two hours from now so I’ll have plenty of time to make it,” Damon assured her. “You might want to grab your own shirt though unless you want some difficult questions from your aunt.” 

Elena chuckled but rushed upstairs to change before heading home. Damon pulled into the driveway behind her and didn’t leave until she was inside the house. She found Jenna sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch. “There’s more if you’re hungry,” Jenna told her. 

“I’m good. I just ate,” Elena told her. 

“With Damon?” Jenna asked pointedly. 

“Um…How did you…”

“Jeremy told me,” Jenna explained. She had known that Elena broke up with Stefan, but the Damon part had been a surprise. “He’s worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Elena assured her. 

“Okay, but are you sure about this honey? It’s Damon we’re talking about here,” Jenna said worriedly. 

“I know, but he’s not what you think. He’s not what I used to think either.”

“He’s Stefan’s brother, Elena. That’s gotta get awkward,” Jenna pointed out. 

“Yeah. It does,” she admitted. “But we’ll work through it. I didn’t mean to fall in love with him any more than he meant to fall in love with me.”

“I guess it was too much to hope for that you would skip the bad boy phase huh?” Jenna said with a heavy sigh as she got up to put her plate in the sink. “Just…please be careful.”

“Damon would never hurt me,” Elena told her. 

“Not physically maybe,” she pointed out. Even she knew how protective Damon was of Elena and that he would never harm a hair on her head, but it was her heart Jenna was most worried about. 

“I know, aunt Jenna. Thanks for caring,” Elena said, giving her a hug before she went upstairs, waiting for the phone call about Caroline and taking the opportunity to write in her journal. Bonnie joined her not long later so they could wait together, agreeing that if Caroline was up for it, they would have a sleepover tonight. 

Bonnie wanted to grill Elena about her and Damon, but decided to wait until Caroline was there since she would have quite a bit to say on the subject too. The sun hadn’t been set for long when Elena’s phone rang and she almost dove for it. “Damon? Did you get Caroline? Is she okay? Are you okay?” 

“Yes we got Caroline, she’s a little worse for wear, but she’ll be okay. Same with me and Stefan, thanks to Elijah’s witch.”

“What?” Elena asked in shock. 

“Yeah, apparently it wasn’t just one werewolf. There was an entire pack and they didn’t much want to play nice. We were about ten seconds from biting it when the witch showed up and took down all the werewolves,” Damon explained. 

“See, I told you the deal with Elijah was a good thing,” Elena told him. 

“For now,” Damon said firmly. “I still don’t like it though.”

“I know, and I told you that if he asks me to do something too bad, then I’ll just break it, but for the time being it’s for the best.” 

“As long as you remember you can’t trust him,” Damon told her. 

“I know,” Elena told him. “Hey you wanna bring Caroline here? Bonnie’s here and we were hoping for a sleepover if she’s feeling up to it.”

There was a pause before Damon said, “She wants to go home first and get cleaned up, but she said she’ll head by there after.”

“Okay. Thanks Damon. Love you.”

“I love you too, Elena. Talk to you tomorrow,” he said before hanging up. 

“Wait a sec. You and Elena? When the hell did that happen and why didn’t I know?!” Caroline all but screeched. 

“A few days ago, and you haven’t really been around. Too busy helping out your little werewolf buddy,” Damon told her. “We’re here,” he said relieved as he pulled into her driveway. He really didn’t want to hear whatever rant she was working up. 

Caroline started to open the door, but turned to glare at him. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you. Just so you know,” she said as she got out of the car and headed inside. 

Damon figured he got off lightly as he pulled out and headed home. Since Caroline’s car was here when she was grabbed, she wouldn’t need a ride after.


	9. Chapter 9

Once Caroline had arrived and the three girls were sitting around Elena’s bed, Bonnie was the one to bring up the big subject. “Okay, I’ve been dying to ask, so now that Caroline is here…Damon, Elena? Really? What are you thinking?” 

“I second that,” Caroline agreed. “You know what he’s like.” 

Elena shook her head and smiled. “Yeah. I do. But you guys don’t.” 

“He tried to kill me,” Bonnie pointed out. 

“And don’t forget what he did to me,” Caroline reminded her. 

“I know. And I’m not justifying it. He’s done some horrible things, but he’s also done some great things too. He’s so much more than you think.”

“Then tell us,” Bonnie prompted. “How did this happen?” 

“Okay, but you have to promise to keep this a secret,” Elena said. “Especially from him.”

“He doesn’t know?” Caroline asked incredulously. 

“He doesn’t know I remember it. He thinks he compelled me to forget,” Elena said with a smirk. “He didn’t know about my backup vervain.”

“Oh this is gonna be good,” Bonnie said leaning forward eagerly. 

“First promise,” Elena told them and they both quickly did. “Okay, so I know we’ve all seen glimpses behind his normal façade right?” They both nodded. “Well when he thought that he would be compelling me to forget, he dropped the whole thing. He was just completely open, baring his soul.” 

“About what?” Caroline asked excitedly. 

“You remember when I was kidnapped right? When Damon and Stefan came to save me? Well I lost my necklace in all the running and fighting. Damon went back and scoured the entire building to find it though and then brought it to me, but he wouldn’t give it back at first. Of course, that made me pretty nervous, but there was something different enough about him that made me curious.” 

“Because he wasn’t pretending?” Bonnie guessed. 

“Yeah. He was nervous. His hands were even shaking a little bit,” Elena remembered with a smile. “He said that he couldn’t give the necklace back because what he was about to say was the most selfish thing he’d ever said in his life, but he just had to say it once. He came up super close and told me that he loved me. And that he couldn’t be selfish with me because he loved me and that’s why I couldn’t know. He said that he didn’t deserve me, but Stefan did.”

“No way,” Caroline said in shock. Damon Salvatore being that selfless was way beyond anything she could comprehend.

“Yeah,” Elena said with a wistful smile. “Then he leaned forward and I thought for a second that he was gonna kiss me, but then he just kissed my forehead and, believe it or not, cried a few tears.” Bonnie and Caroline both gaped at her. “Then he touched my cheek and was so sad and heartbroken as he said that he wished I didn’t have to forget it before he compelled me to forget.” 

It took both the other girls a long moment before they found words and Bonnie was the first to recover. “So it’s just because he loves you?” 

Elena shook her head. “No. I’d been fighting falling for him ever since the Miss Mystic pageant. That was just the last straw that put me over the edge.”

“That’s why you broke up with Stefan?” Caroline asked, having never gotten that story. 

“Yeah,” Elena nodded. “Once I fell in love with his brother it wasn’t fair to him for me to stay with him.”

“Okay, so how did you end up getting together after that? I mean, if he thought you forgot…”

“Oh I can tell you that part,” Bonnie grinned as Elena blushed and hid her head in her pillow. 

“Oooh, spill,” Caroline grinned, turning to Bonnie. 

“Well you know how she tried to go all martyr and turn herself over to Klaus?” Caroline nodded. “She left a letter for Damon telling him how she felt and everything and it was hidden in her room. Well apparently, Damon didn’t want to leave her unattended and risk her trying something like that again so he stayed while she slept and I guess got bored and started snooping…”

“And he found the letter,” Caroline said gleefully. 

“Oh yeah,” Bonnie said. “And then they had a screaming match about it in the middle of the kitchen,” she laughed. 

“It was not a screaming match,” Elena protested. “It was just a little argument.”

“Honey, I’m surprised Caroline didn’t hear it all the way from her house,” Bonnie said amusedly. “Even after we made our escape upstairs, Jeremy and I could hear every word.”

“What did they say?” Caroline asked. 

“Elena was pissed because he snooped in her room and he was pissed that she told him how she felt in a letter that he wasn’t supposed to get until after she was dead,” Bonnie explained. “One thing I don’t know though…you said that he found the one way to stop you from trying that again…”

Elena sighed and blushed again. “He left me a return note that said he refused to live in a world where I wasn’t so if he wasn’t standing in front of me he would be following right behind me.” 

“Okay, I know it’s Damon and all, but that is sooo romantic,” Caroline cooed. 

“And then when I pointed out that he put me in a position where I would have to trade his life for everyone else’s he told me that now I knew how it felt to love someone so much that I would sacrifice anything for them.” 

“And /that’s/ when all sound from downstairs stopped,” Bonnie teased as Elena held her pillow to her face again. “When Jeremy and I came down, they were probably ten seconds from losing the last of their clothes.” 

“We were not!” Elena said, hitting Bonnie with the pillow. 

“Details!” Caroline bounced, getting hit with another pillow from Elena. 

“Damon’s shirt was completely unbuttoned and halfway off. He was blocking my view of Elena for a minute but once he moved she was straightening her shirt too and let’s just say that Damon’s jeans don’t hide much,” Bonnie grinned. 

“You were checking him out,” Elena tried to tease back. 

“Hey, I don’t like the guy, but even I can admit that he’s ridiculously hot,” Bonnie told her. 

“I think we can all agree on that fact,” Caroline laughed. 

“As long as you keep your hands to yourself,” Elena chuckled. 

Caroline and Bonnie looked at each other with a grimace before saying at the same time, “Definitely.” 

“I’ve ridden that crazy train before and there’s not a chance in hell of me going there again,” Caroline told her. 

“Maybe you can handle him, but I definitely wouldn’t touch that with a ten foot pole,” Bonnie agreed. 

“Just…at least be nice to him? For my sake?” Elena asked hopefully. 

“As long as he doesn’t hurt anyone. Including you,” Caroline agreed, getting a nod from Bonnie as well. 

“Thank you guys,” she said with a grin. “So now that we’ve dissected my relationship, who’s next?” 

The rest of the night was spent talking about Caroline’s drama with Matt and Bonnie’s triangle between Luca and Jeremy, which Elena found slightly uncomfortable on both counts since Matt was her ex and Jeremy was her brother, but it was still good. They hadn’t reconnected like this in a long time and who knew when or if they were going to get another chance.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast cooked by Jenna, the girls went their separate ways. Elena went to see Damon while Caroline and Bonnie made plans to find out what Elijah was up to from Luca. Elena pulled up as Stefan was leaving and felt bad that she was happy he was leaving. It would make things less awkward with Damon. Damon opened the door before she could even ring the bell and pulled her into a kiss. “I heard your car,” he admitted when she looked at him curiously. 

The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon were spent curled up together on the couch talking and just enjoying the peace of the moment despite knowing that it would be ruined soon enough, as it always was, and sure enough all hell broke loose. The windows busted in and four werewolves rushed in, not that Elena knew they were werewolves until Damon let it slip. During the fight, one of them got on Damon’s back while he was trying to protect her and injected him with vervain. The werewolf joked about how strong he was and then Elena knew no more. When she woke up, she was tied up on the couch, but what really panicked her was the way that Damon was restrained in the chair with what could only be described as a torture device around his neck as he was starting to wake up too.


	10. Chapter 10

Elena forced herself to play possum for a while as she tried to think of a plan. Only the knowledge that her speaking up wouldn’t help kept her quiet when Damon cried out in pain as the collar was pulled. She heard the woman asking about the moonstone, and Damon quipped “Oh if you only knew the irony of this situation right now…Let me tell you how this is gonna go. You’re gonna torture me. I don’t talk. Someone loses a heart. Last time it was your boy Mason.” Elena was both terrified and impressed at Damon’s reaction to torture and his strength and composure.

Jules smirked at him. “Let /me/ tell /you/ how this is gonna go,” she grabbed Elena and dragged her to her feet. “I’m gonna torture her and you’ll talk.”

“If you harm one hair on her head, I will rip you limb from limb and make you /beg/ for death,” Damon growled as he struggled against the chains. 

Jules just smirked as she pulled a knife and put it to Elena’s throat stopping her struggles. “Now. Let’s try this again. I hear you have the moonstone.”

“Not anymore,” Damon told her. 

Jules flicked the knife across Elena’s arm, making her yelp in pain and Damon to struggle harder. “You will give me complete answers if you want to save your little girlfriend here.” 

“I gave it to a witch who was getting together with another witch to remove the curse from the stone. From what I was told it worked and the moonstone was destroyed,” Damon told her. “Now let Elena go and let’s finish this between us.” 

“I’m not leaving you like this, Damon,” Elena said firmly ignoring her fear. “Together, remember?” she reminded him of their pact that live or die they would do it together. 

“Aww. So sweet,” Jules said condescendingly. 

“Elena, please,” Damon begged her. 

“I’m not letting her go anyway,” Jules smirked. “Not when she’s so useful at getting answers from you. I have a feeling there’s a lot more you can tell me. You said from what you were told. You didn’t see it?” 

“No, I didn’t, but I have no reason to believe that it wasn’t destroyed,” Damon told her. 

“I think the girl knows something,” one of the other werewolves said, having noticed Elena’s reaction. 

“No, I don’t,” Elena protested. Jules nodded to the werewolf that was holding Damon’s chains and he pulled on the collar, causing Damon to scream in pain. “Okay! I’ll tell you! Just stop! Please!” Elena cried. 

Jules nodded at him again and he stopped, leaving Damon panting for breath. “Talk,” Jules said. 

“The witch that was helping with it was working for Elijah. I think they stole the moonstone and switched it for a fake. It’s just a guess though.”

“Why would you think that?” Jules asked. 

“Because I know Elijah wanted the stone too,” Elena told her. “That’s all I know, I swear.” 

“The name of the witches?” Jules asked. 

When Elena hesitated, there was another scream from Damon. “Luca!” she cried out. “And his father Jonas. I don’t know their last names.” 

“What do you know?” she asked. 

“Luca goes to the high school. His dad is a doctor. They moved here recently and they work for Elijah. That’s it,” Elena offered, tears streaming down her cheeks as she met Damon’s eyes. 

“Looking for this?” a voice came from behind them and they all turned to see Elijah standing there with the moonstone in his hand. He slowly put it down on the table. “Go ahead. Take it,” he said stepping back with a smirk. The first werewolf to go for it lost his heart, so the next two tried to overwhelm him with numbers which didn’t work either. Jules shoved a still tied up Elena onto the couch and took off while the werewolf holding Damon’s chains cowered. 

Elijah toyed with him for a moment before knocking him out and turned to Damon, grabbing the chains that were wrapped around his arm, breaking them apart before doing the same to the ones wrapped around his torso. “You realize this is the third time I’ve saved your life now?” he asked smugly as Damon quickly used his free hand to finish unchaining himself before he rushed to Elena to untie her. 

“You okay, baby?” he asked frantically, ignoring the original vampire as he picked up the moonstone and walked out. 

Elena threw herself in Damon’s arms, trying her best to avoid his injuries. “I’m okay,” she managed to say before pulling back and inspecting his wounds. “Are you?” 

“I’ll be fine once I get a little blood and burn the vervain from my system,” Damon assured her. “Let me see your arm.”

“God, Damon. I just have a little scratch. You’re the one that’s really hurt,” she protested, as he took her arm anyway. 

“That’s more than a little scratch, Elena,” he told her. “Come on. I’m sure there’s a first aid kit here somewhere,” he said, starting to pull her from the room with a noticeable limp. 

“I swear to god, Damon Salvatore, if you don’t sit down I will /make/ you sit down and the fact that I actually could right now should tell you something,” Elena snapped irritably. Damon fought the urge to laugh, but did as she was told, sure now that she would be fine. “Now…/I/ will go grab you some blood, and get the first aid kit. Then, if you’re nice, I might let you put the bandage on my arm.” 

When she returned a moment later, she handed him the blood, but he set it aside and took the first aid kit from her. She rolled her eyes, but let him clean and bandage her arm before she put the blood back in his hand. As he opened it and started to drink he reached a hand to her cheek. “I love you so much, Elena.” 

She leaned into his touch and took his hand in hers as she turned to kiss his palm. “I love you too, Damon.” 

By the time he finished the two blood bags that Elena had brought him he was back to normal and all healed so he got up to start cleaning up. While he disposed of the bodies, Elena got the chains picked up and set aside, moved the chair, and rolled up the rug and put it in the corner. She wasn’t sure what Damon was going to do with the rug, but she couldn’t stand looking at all that blood on it and knowing that it was his. 

Damon was on the phone as he came back in the door. “So he planned to kill her all along,” Damon said as though confirming a suspicion. “Got it. Loud and clear.”

“What was that?” Elena asked as he hung up. 

“Elijah was planning to sacrifice you to kill Klaus,” Damon told her. “I hate to say I told you so, but…”

“I know,” Elena said. “Well, no. I didn’t know, but I suspected.”

“And you still took his deal?” Damon asked heatedly. 

“All I agreed to was to stop trying to turn myself over to Klaus, which was the same thing I already promised you. He already had access to my house Damon. He was invited in. I didn’t exactly have another option.” 

“Then if I offer you one, you’ll take it?” Damon asked. 

“If it’s a reasonable one, yes. Absolutely,” Elena told him. 

“I may have gotten a visit this morning before you got here. There is a weapon that can be used to kill Elijah and I have it now.” 

“Be careful, Damon,” Elena told him. “He’s smarter than you think and a lot stronger and faster than you. Don’t do anything stupid.” 

“I won’t act until or unless I have a fool-proof plan. I promise,” he assured her. 

“Then okay. And if there’s anything I can do to help…”

“You can help me make a plan. And Ric. He would be helpful too,” Damon said. 

Ric got there an hour later and between the three of them they came up with a good plan and Ric was the one to say, “Okay, but I’m stabbing him.”

“What? No!” Damon protested. “I call dibs.” 

“He’ll expect it from you, Damon,” Ric pointed out. 

“Then I’ll do it,” Elena said firmly. “He thinks I’m on his side. He won’t suspect me.”

“Absolutely not!” Damon snapped. “You’re the only one he /can/ kill without validating the deal.”

“That and you don’t have my reflexes or skill,” Ric told her. 

“It’s just stabbing him with a knife. How much skill does it take?” Elena argued. 

“Can you be absolutely certain that you could hit the heart instantly on the first try?” Rick asked pointedly. “Because you won’t get a second if you miss.” 

Elena sighed and nodded in defeat. “Okay. You win. You do it.” 

“Hey, I didn’t agree to that,” Damon protested. “I have better reflexes and more skill in that area than either of you.”

“But like Ric said, he’ll be expecting it from you,” Elena told him. “Ric is just a simple human with no grudges against him as far as he knows.”

“Fine,” Damon grumbled. “But if I have a clear opening, I’m gonna take it anyway.”

Then came the hard sell. Damon had to convince Elena and Ric that Jenna needed to be at the dinner party. If it was just the four of them, he would smell a setup a mile away, but with Jenna there, he would be more at ease. He only won that one when he swore to both of them that he would ensure that Jenna wasn’t harmed in any way.


	11. Chapter 11

The dinner party went as expected and Elena kept Jenna busy cleaning up while Ric did the deed. They had Elijah dumped in the cell downstairs by the time the girls came back out and they told Jenna that Elijah had an important call and had to go. The rest of the evening was spent with the two couples relaxing by the fire as Jenna tried to get to know Damon a little better. Elena brought up an idea that she had earlier towards the end of the night, not long after Stefan got home and headed straight upstairs with barely a look into the living room. “I was thinking, Damon, that maybe we could go spend the rest of spring break at my family’s lake house? If that’s okay with you aunt Jenna?” 

Jenna had noticed Stefan’s arrival and had a feeling she knew why they wanted to get away for a while. It wasn’t like she could say no anyway. Elena was almost eighteen and the lake house belonged to her. She did appreciate the gesture of being asked though. “Sure. It’s good with me. As long as you’re back in time to go back to school.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Damon agreed. “We could use a little vacay from all the doom and gloom.” 

“Great,” Elena said with a grin. “I’ll go home and get packed up tonight and you can pick me up in the morning?” 

“Bright and early,” Damon promised, giving her a kiss before she, along with Jenna and Ric got up to leave. Once they left, Damon headed downstairs to check on their corpse houseguest, smirking at the sight of him. His chest really was the best storage space for the dagger until it was needed again. 

Once he was packed for their almost a week away, he headed out to load up the car. The only thing he would need in the morning is a supply of blood, but that was best to leave in the fridge until it was time to go. He headed back up to get ready for bed when he heard his shower going and laughed. “Change your mind about spending the night away from me?” 

The second she stepped out of the shower and kissed him, he knew it wasn’t Elena, but he also knew that he couldn’t let on yet, so he pulled her back towards the bedroom without breaking the kiss, and rummaged in his sock drawer until he found what he was looking for and jabbed the vervain tranquilizer into her side. He didn’t know how she got out of the tomb, but she had been there long enough for her tolerance to have worn off and he was right when she dropped like a stone. Normally he would have just broken her neck, but wasn’t going to take the risk of being wrong about her not being Elena. The vervain wouldn’t have hurt Elena at all. 

Once she was out, Damon carried her downstairs and tossed her in the cell, taking Elijah out, dagger and all, and putting him in the coffin sized safe and locking the door. He would deal with Katherine when they got back, assuming that she wasn’t desiccated by then, not that he cared much either way. He let Stefan know that she was down there and that if he let her out he was a dead man. That done, he finally made it to bed. 

His alarm went off at the crack of dawn and after a quick shower, he checked on his two house guests, one of whom was awake and pissed now, before packing up the blood and heading out to pick Elena up. The drive to the beach house was scenic and pleasant, except the part where Damon told Elena about Katherine. “What?!” 

“I knew she wasn’t you as soon as she kissed me, but you know how she is. If I had let on, she would have disappeared in a second and then come back after us all later,” Damon told her, trying to get himself out of trouble for letting her kiss him so long. 

“No, I know that, Damon. I’m not mad at you,” Elena assured him. “I just…how did she get out of the tomb?” 

“Stefan said that Elijah had to take down the spells to let him out, but compelled her to stay. When he died it must have broken the compulsion,” Damon guessed. 

“At least she’s still on ice and once she desiccates we can stash her somewhere,” Elena muttered. She was so sick of Katherine trying to screw up her life. 

Once they got there, and Elena invited Damon in, he unpacked the car while she was bombarded with memories. Most of the rest of the week was spent with them talking about her family and all the memories they had here, but there was a break when they found the secret room with vampire hunting gear and old journals. Elena got lost in the journals for a while, so Damon pulled out one of his own books to read as she rested her legs over his lap. 

Thankfully, Damon wasn’t the type to mind interruptions while he read because he had a few of them with questions from Elena about the vampires she read about. He told her a little about how Stefan was back then and how he’d tried to help him, but eventually had to give up and move on. He glossed over a lot of the details, but answered all her questions. Once she got to the part about the original vampires, Damon realized how lucky they’d been. If Ric had let him use that dagger then he would be dead now, and if he’d decided to take the dagger out of Elijah’s chest then Elijah would be on a vengeance tear against them. Just the thought of what could have gone wrong made him shudder. 

Their last morning there, Damon didn’t want to let Elena go. “We need to get packed up to go home,” she said amusedly as he held her tightly against his chest. 

He whined and kissed her head. “I don’t wanna leave yet. It’s so peaceful here. Do you realize that no one has tried to kill, torture, or kidnap either of us all week?” 

Elena chuckled and kissed his chest. “I know, sweetheart, but we still have to go home.” 

Damon sighed heavily. “Fine. But not yet. If I use my vamp speed I can be all packed up with everything in the car in under ten minutes. That gives us a good two hours to enjoy this.” 

“I can live with that,” Elena grinned and picked her head up to kiss him deeply. “I love you, Damon.”

“I love you, too,” he told her earnestly as they found excellent ways to pass their last two hours in as close to paradise as they had at the moment. They got home in time for dinner at the Gilbert house, which Damon was surprisingly invited to join and he gladly did so before telling Elena goodnight and heading home. 

Once he got home, he learned from Stefan that Klaus was on the way. He’d learned about Elena and that they had the moonstone from Isobel who had been compelled to help him. Thankfully, Stefan hadn’t told Isobel about Katherine, but it was bad enough without that. Damon decided to wait until after school the next day to tell Elena the news and swore Stefan to secrecy until then too. 

The next day, Elena and Stefan got there at the same time, both having come straight from school, and they brought Bonnie with them. “What are you doing here?” Damon asked confused when she came in. 

“I don’t know,” Bonnie shrugged. “Stefan suggested I come along. I figured there was a reason.”

“Right. Well. I guess you might be able to be of help,” Damon said before turning to Elena. “Klaus is apparently on his way.”

“What?! Why?”

“He knows about you and that the moonstone is here too,” Damon told her. “Now, I don’t know when we’ll be here, but having a few plans for when he gets here would be helpful.”

“I’ll see what I can figure out,” Bonnie offered. “I have a few ideas for resources.”

“That would be great, since we are out of weapons against him,” Stefan told her. 

“In the meantime, we all need to be careful. Elena, I know you’re going to hate this, but it would really make me feel better if you had one of the three of us with you at all times, especially outside your house,” Damon told her. 

“It’s okay. I understand. As long as you don’t expect me to be a prisoner, I’ll deal,” she told him. 

Stefan just gaped at them for a minute, completely astonished that she actually agreed to that, before deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Damon obviously gets overnights,” he chuckled, having come to terms with their relationship while they were away. It still hurt, but he was dealing. 

“Naturally,” Damon agreed amusedly. 

“And we can always have sleepovers when she needs to be home at night,” Bonnie offered. 

“I’ll get her to and from school,” Stefan suggested. “Since she’ll be staying here most nights anyway.” 

“I feel like a toddler you’re sharing custody of,” Elena grumbled.

Damon chuckled and pulled her into his arms, kissing her head. “No, you’re the most precious jewel of our lives that we can’t help but worry about when there’s a madman after your head.” 

Bonnie smiled at them, really coming around more on Damon since they got together just because of moments like this. He didn’t show his soft side often, but sometimes it slipped out. “Okay, so now that’s settled, I’m gonna go do some research and see what I can figure out.”

“Thank you, Bonnie,” Stefan told her. Once Bonnie left, Stefan said, “I’m gonna head out for a while. I’m meeting Caroline for dinner and I’ll update her on what’s going on.” 

Once they were alone, Elena settled more comfortably in Damon’s arms as they stretched out on the couch and she rested her head on his chest. “I guess it’s a good thing that we ‘accidentally’ left the bag of my clothes in your car after the trip.” 

“And a good thing that I washed them and put them away in my room until I could get them back to you,” Damon added, leaning his chin against her head.


	12. Chapter 12

The next few weeks went by in a blur. Bonnie managed to get information from Luca about how to channel the power from dead witches, though he and his dad refused to help without Elijah on their side and since they couldn’t get to him, they were out. At least they gave her the information she needed though and she wasted no time doing the spell to take in the power. 

Damon and Elena were all but living together at the moment with Elena only spending one or two nights a week at home, always with Bonnie sleeping over, which got no complaints since Bonnie and Jeremy were now a couple, so technically, Elena was left alone often, but Bonnie was always in the next room when she was and slept in Elena’s room, partially due to Jenna’s rules and partially so that she could be close by if something happened rather than risking sleeping through it while she was next door. 

Stefan was comfortable enough with Damon and Elena together, not to mention used to finding them curled up together on any available surface, that he had stopped leaving the room whenever they were there and he and Elena were even becoming friends again. Stefan and Damon were even both going as Elena’s ‘dates’ to the sixties dance coming up, just so that she would be more protected in the crowd. They all knew that would be the most opportune time for Klaus to strike. They almost never managed to make it through a school dance without a vampire attack. 

It wasn’t until about halfway through the dance that Damon’s ears caught a piece of information that he hadn’t known and when he found out that Klaus had stolen Alaric’s body, he grabbed Bonnie for a dance to make a last minute adjustment to their plan, and it went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, Elena couldn’t be let in on it and was an emotional mess. Damon had to help Bonnie and get Jeremy up to speed on what he needed to do, so Stefan took Elena back to their house, but he followed as soon as he could. He hated hurting Elena like that, but it had been necessary. 

As soon as he walked in, he was set on by Elena. “You knew didn’t you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power she would die, didn’t you?” 

“Yes,” Damon admitted. “Yes, I knew.” Before he could say anything else though, she slapped him and he took it in stride. He deserved it and more for every tear that she had shed tonight. “You need to listen to me, and prepare for what I’m about to say,” he said seriously. “Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric’s body was a total surprise. She wasn’t prepared for that. He wasn’t going to stop and we weren’t going to be able to stop him until he knew she was dead. He had to /believe/ it.” Damon looked at her apologetically. “She cast a spell. Bonnie’s okay.” Now that he had that out, he turned and headed upstairs, knowing that she wouldn’t even want to look at him right now. 

When Stefan went after Damon to talk to him, Elena headed downstairs. Their plan had failed. Now it was time for her own. She took a few deep breaths before opening the safe and pulling the dagger out of Elijah’s chest and closing the safe door back while waiting for him to wake up. She wasn’t letting him out until she had reassurances. When she heard him moving around, she said, “I’ll let you out once we have an agreement in place.” 

“We already had an agreement, Elena,” he said coldly. “One that you broke.”

“Because you lied to me,” Elena told him. “But now I want a new one.”

“What terms are you expecting?” 

“Klaus is here. He wants to do the ritual,” she told him. 

“The only time he will be weak enough to kill is when the ritual is at it’s peak. I can’t and won’t stop it,” Elijah told her. 

“I’m not asking you to,” Elena said. “I know that the ritual will be stronger if I give my blood willingly and I intend to do that. I won’t get in the middle of whatever fight you have with your brother. My contribution will be the ritual and that’s it. You two can fight out the rest between you, but I want you to set up a meeting with him. I’m sure, now that it’s so close, that you can convince him that you’re on his side long enough for that.”

“What purpose could meeting with him serve?” Elijah asked. 

“I want assurances from you /both/, that all of my family and friends and everyone I care about will be left alone, and I want to spend the last few days before the full moon with them, saying my goodbyes. If I can get that guarantee, I will walk out there for the ritual of my own free will and do whatever is needed of me for it.”

Elijah considered that for a long moment. “I can’t make that guarantee for him, but I will promise you to do my best to set up that meeting, and should I succeed, you will leave that meeting free and unharmed. You will also have the assurance of safety for your family and friends from me.”

Elena put in the combination for the safe again and opened the door. “Then we have a deal,” she held out her hand to shake, and he took it.

“I’ll be in touch as soon as possible,” he promised before racing out the door.

That done, Elena took a few deep breaths before heading upstairs to talk to Damon. As she stepped into the room, Damon turned to look at her. “I’m sorry, Elena, but Klaus had to think she was dead. Your reaction had to be real.” 

“I understand why you did what you did,” she told him. “Klaus was fooled and Bonnie’s alive.” 

Damon was surprised and a little suspicious that she was letting him off that easily, but he raised his glass and said, “here’s to duplicity.”

“But let’s get one thing straight, Damon. Bonnie will not die for me. I will not let that happen,” she told him as she stepped closer to him. 

“We need to kill Klaus, Elena. Real Klaus. Who will probably be coming to pay you a visit soon now that he knows that Bonnie’s dead. She’s the only one who can do it,” he said gently. 

“Then we’ll find another way,” she said seriously.

“I hope so,” Damon said sincerely. 

Elena couldn’t help but smile at that as she reached out for his hand. “I shouldn’t have hit you,” she said sheepishly. 

“Apology accepted,” he smiled gratefully at her. “But let me be clear about something. If it comes down to you and the witch again, I will gladly let Bonnie die. I will always. Choose. You.”

She gave a sad smile as she reached a hand to his cheek. “I know,” she said softly. “Just as I will always choose you.” She had no intention of letting it come to that though. 

She was trying to consider what and when to tell him that she had another way, when Stefan came rushing into the room before she could. “We have a problem,” he said worriedly. 

“What now?” Damon asked wearily. 

“Elijah’s gone.”

“What?! How the hell did that happen?!” Damon snapped. 

“I let him out,” Elena said before they could get too worked up. 

“You did WHAT?!” Damon asked her incredulously. 

Elena pulled the dagger from her belt and set it on the bedside table. “It’s your turn to trust me, Damon. I know what I’m doing.” Stefan took one look at the fight brewing and headed back to his own room. He learned the hard way not to get in the middle when those two started up. 

“The last time you made a decision like this you were trying to turn yourself over to Klaus, and you’re asking me to trust you?” Damon scoffed. 

She took both of his hands in hers. “Yes, Damon,” she said gently. “I made a promise to you after that, and I won’t go back on that promise. I have a plan. A good one.”

“What is it?” Damon asked her. 

“I can’t tell you,” she said sadly, shaking her head. “Partially for the same reason you couldn’t tell me about the plan with Bonnie.” 

“I’m a good actor, Elena,” he told her, not wanting to take no for an answer. 

“Also because they could be listening at any time. They could have spies anywhere. This doesn’t work if anyone knows, Damon,” she lifted her hands to his cheeks and looked deeply into his eyes. “Please…trust me,” she begged. 

Damon took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wrapping his hands around her wrists and rubbing his thumbs over the backs of her hands as he turned to kiss one palm and then the other. He opened his eyes again, and looked deep into hers. “Please, Elena…don’t make me regret this,” he said desperately, blinking the tears from his eyes. 

“I won’t,” she promised, leaning up to kiss him softly. “I promise.”


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, Elena woke to the buzzing of her phone and she turned in Damon’s arms to grab it. “Ignore it,” Damon muttered sleepily, burying his face in her hair. 

“I can’t, Damon,” she said amusedly, turning to kiss his head. “You can go back to sleep though.”

“Where you going?” he whined, holding her tighter when she tried to get up. 

“I need to go out for a while. I’ll be back later,” she told him. 

“Not alone you’re not.”

“I /have/ to go alone, Damon,” she said seriously. “You agreed to trust me, remember?” 

Damon huffed and sat up. “I don’t like it.”

“I know,” she said gently, leaning over to kiss him deeply before getting up to get dressed. “But I’ll be fine.” 

He took a deep breath and reached for her hand as she was headed to the door. “Together, remember?” 

“Together,” she agreed, giving his hand a squeeze before she walked out. 

Damon looked at the time and groaned. It wasn’t even six yet and there was no way he was getting back to sleep now. He dragged himself out of bed, got dressed, and headed downstairs to while away the time with a book until she got back. Hopefully it would keep him busy enough not to wear a hole in the floor. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t work because when Stefan got down two hours later, Damon had been pacing most of that time. “Where’s Elena?” Stefan asked worriedly. 

“I don’t know,” Damon admitted. 

“Well why didn’t you wake me up. We’ll go find her.”

“No, we won’t,” Damon said. 

“What? Why?” 

“Because she knows what she’s doing. She has a plan.”

“What kind of plan?” Stefan asked incredulously. 

“I don’t know,” Damon shrugged. 

“But you’re letting her do it anyway? Are you crazy?” 

“She asked me to trust her,” Damon told him. 

“So you do?” Stefan asked like he was crazy. 

“Haven’t I always?” Damon huffed a laugh. “The day after she betrayed me with the grimoire, she asked me to trust her and I did. She asked me to trust her with the Gilbert device and I did. She’s never made me regret it before, and she promised that she wouldn’t this time.” 

“You’re nuts,” Stefan said shaking his head. “She’s gonna get herself killed.”

“No. She won’t,” Damon told him. He had to believe that. 

Elena made her way to the bridge at the address that Elijah had texted her right on time. “You came,” Elijah said as he walked up. “And you’re alone. How did you manage that?” 

“I can handle them. Don’t worry. My side of the agreement won’t be a problem,” she told him. 

“Because you ‘have a plan’?” Elijah asked with a smirk. 

That answered Elena’s question of whether he had a way to listen, though whether he had been standing outside, compelled some kind of animal to listen for him, planted a bug, or any of a dozen other options remained to be seen. “You have to know that they wouldn’t let me do this if they knew what it entailed,” she rolled her eyes.

“So your way of handling them is to lie to them?” Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“For now, yes. Until it’s too late to stop it at least.” 

“And if they try to stop the ritual?” Elijah asked. 

“I can make sure that everyone except for Damon is occupied, and Damon is easy. I just have to piss him off enough to get him to take off. By the time he burns through his temper and comes back, it’ll be done with,” Elena assured him. When she saw that he accepted that, she got to business. “Now that you know I’m not backing out, what about your part of the plan? Did you get me a meeting with Klaus?” 

“He did,” another voice came from behind her, and she jumped and spun around, hating that it put Elijah at her back, but at least he had a miniscule amount of trust from her. “Klaus Mikaelson,” he held out his hand. When she took it, he lifted her hand to kiss it. “A pleasure.”

“Nice to meet you,” Elena said tightly, fighting the urge to wipe her hand off. “Did Elijah tell you my terms?” 

“No. He left that for you. I have agreed to allow you to leave unharmed when we’re finished here though,” Klaus told her. “What are you offering?” 

“My willing participation as a sacrifice in your ritual,” she told him. 

“I see. That would make it more powerful, but it would work acceptably without it,” Klaus pointed out. 

“True, but it also wouldn’t go as smoothly when people tried to stop it. Even if they did fail, they could still cause quite a bit of trouble,” Elena pointed out. 

“So you’re also offering to prevent that interference as well?” Klaus asked. When she nodded, he asked, “What are your terms?” 

“I want the safety of all my family and friends,” Elena told him. “They aren’t to be harmed or manipulated by you or anyone working on your behalf.” 

Klaus considered that for a moment. “Well, I was going to use Tyler Lockwood and Caroline Forbes for the werewolf and vampire sacrifices, but I do have backups lined up. Very well. We have an agreement. Know this though, little Petrova, if you renege on your part of this deal, everyone you’ve ever loved will die by my hand one by one. Is that understood?” Klaus asked dangerously. 

“Perfectly,” Elena agreed, holding out her hand to shake on it. 

“My brother will come get you from the Salvatore residence when it’s time,” Klaus said before disappearing. 

“I do hope you know what you’re doing,” Elijah told her with a shake of his head. “You realize that if anyone you know interrupts the ritual in any way, everyone’s life is forfeit?” 

“I know,” Elena told him. “They won’t.” Elijah just nodded before he left and Elena walked back to her car to head towards Bonnie’s hideout. Once she sent Jeremy outside to give them some privacy, she told Bonnie, “I need you to do me a favor. It’s life or death. For everyone. And I need you to keep it a secret.” 

“What is it?” Bonnie asked. 

“Promise first.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone, but I won’t promise to do it until I know what it is,” Bonnie told her. 

“I need you to throw a party at the grill in two nights. I need you to make sure that everyone is there. And then I need you to seal the building. No one can get out before one am.”

“What are you…that’s the night the ritual is supposed to take place…Elena, no…”

“I will be fine, Bonnie. I promise. I have a plan, and I need you to trust me,” she said seriously. “But if anyone else tries to interfere, then we all die. Including me.” 

“There isn’t a chance in hell of getting Damon away from you that night, you know,” Bonnie said with a sigh, knowing that she didn’t have much choice now. 

“I know. Don’t worry about Damon. I’ll take care of him. Just keep everyone else there. Please, Bonnie.”

“I would have to be there for the barrier spell. I won’t be able to take Klaus out from there.”

“I know. We don’t need you to take Klaus out anymore. I just need you keeping everyone safe,” Elena told her. 

“Okay. Fine. But if Damon kills me for letting you die…” 

“It’ll be fine,” Elena assure her. “Make sure everyone is there by nightfall. Including Stefan. Tell them I’ll be there and we’re all waiting the moon out if you have to.” When Bonnie nodded, Elena hugged her. “Thank you, Bonnie. Really.” 

When she left, she called Damon. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m done with my business and I’m all good, but I’m gonna go home to visit with Jenna and Ric for a while.” 

“I’ll meet you there?” Damon asked hopefully. 

“Okay. That sounds good,” Elena said, and she could hear the relief in his voice as he told her he loved her and hung up. She turned to Jeremy before he went back in. “Why don’t you come too, Jer? I’ll bring you back to Bonnie later and we can both bring her some dinner and eat with her.”

“Yeah okay. Let me just let her know,” Jeremy told her and he was back in a few minutes. He was leaving his car here so that Bonnie wouldn’t be stranded in case of emergency. 

When they got back home, Damon’s car was already there and he met her as she got out of her car, pulling her into a crushing hug and then pushed her back to arms length, looking her over for any injuries. “You’re really okay,” he said relieved. 

“I told you I was,” she chuckled, leaning up for a quick kiss. 

Lunch and most of the afternoon was spent with the whole family spending time together in a way they didn’t do often, but they all enjoyed it. Especially Elena who knew that this was going to be one of the last times she saw any of them, if not /the/ last time. It was almost dinnertime before they left and Elena told Damon once they were outside, “I’m gonna have dinner with Bonnie and Jeremy. I would invite you, but the spirits there kinda hate you, so…”

“It’s okay. I get it,” Damon gave her a lop-sided smile. “You’ll be home after though?” 

“Actually I’m gonna sleep here tonight. I’m overdue for a night here. I’ll see you after breakfast in the morning though,” she promised. 

He nodded and kissed her softly before she went to the car, but Damon grabbed Jeremy’s arm before he could follow. “If she bails on dinner with you and Bonnie, text me.” Jeremy nodded and headed to the car with Elena. 

They stopped at the grill to grab some takeout before heading back to Bonnie and they all had a nice dinner and stayed until almost midnight before Elena went home. Jeremy was going to stay with Bonnie. Jeremy texted Damon when Elena left, letting him know she was headed home. 

When Elena got home, she headed to bed after hugs for Ric and Jenna. She laughed when she saw Damon sitting on the window seat waiting for her and closed the door. “Just try to be gone before Jenna wakes up. You know how she feels about you staying here.” Jenna still didn’t like Damon very much and had a not under my roof policy regarding him. Which was why Elena stayed with Damon more often than not. 

“I will,” Damon agreed as he pulled her into a kiss before they headed to bed. Without sex this time, since Elena’s bed squeaked too much. Elena waited until he fell asleep before getting up as quietly as she could and writing a series of letters that she left in the top drawer of her desk. She knew that no one would go in there until she was gone and most of them included some variant of the same thing. ‘Sorry I lied to you, but the only way to save you all was for me to die. One life for everyone else’s was too good of a trade to pass up. Don’t make my sacrifice in vain by going after Klaus or Elijah’. 

When Elena woke up alone the next morning, she sighed sadly. She hated waking up alone anymore. She was too used to waking up in Damon’s arms now. At least this would be the last time. She got up and had a nice Sunday breakfast with Jenna and Ric before she headed out, back to Damon’s with one last wistful look around the house she’d lived her whole life in and would never see again. 

It was hard not to let on that something was going on when she wanted so badly to fall apart, but she managed to keep it together and just curled up in Damon’s arms as they so often did in the quiet times. She wished she could say goodbye to Caroline and Matt and Tyler too, but that would definitely draw suspicion being that social in two days. If Damon figured out that she was saying her goodbyes too soon, it would blow everything.


	14. Chapter 14

Stefan was in and out for the day and even brought dinner home, which the three of them ate together. “That was a good idea, sealing us all up for the night of the ritual, but you know that only buys us time,” Stefan told her. 

“What’s that?” Damon asked curiously. 

“That time is all I need,” Elena told him before telling Damon, “There’s a party at the grill tomorrow night. Bonnie’s gonna seal the place up once we’re all in.” 

“Speaking of, I need to go help Caroline with the planning,” Stefan said since they finished eating. 

Once Damon heard his car drive off, he looked at Elena suspiciously. “You’re not gonna be in the grill tomorrow night are you?” 

“No. I’m not,” Elena admitted. 

“Then neither am I,” Damon said firmly, daring her to disagree. If she was planning what he thought she was…

“I didn’t plan for you to be there,” she assured him. “You’ll be with me.” 

Damon breathed a sigh of relief. That meant that she wasn’t planning on sacrificing herself for the ritual. Unless she planned on sacrificing him too, but she would never do that. Even with their pact about dying together. “Okay. Good.” 

The next day, Damon kept them in bed until noon, not that Elena was complaining, and she could see his nerves. He knew that whatever was going to happen would be tonight. She could see him getting more and more high-strung as the day went on. Thankfully, Bonnie and Caroline had conned Stefan into helping with the setup so he wasn’t suspicious when they didn’t leave with him. Once night fell, Damon asked, “Okay, the party should be sealed up by now. What are we doing? Making a run for it?” 

“Not exactly,” a voice said from the doorway. “Are you ready, Elena?” Elijah asked. 

“Wait…what are you…” Damon looked back and forth between Elijah and Elena a few times. 

“Can you give me a few minutes to say goodbye?” Elena asked Elijah hopefully. 

Elijah looked at his watch. “Ten minutes.” 

Elena nodded and dragged Damon upstairs to their room. “No, Elena. You promised. I won’t let you do this,” he said angrily. 

Elena put a finger to her lips as she pulled a pocketknife from her pocket and took his hand. “I’m sorry, Damon, but this is the only way to save everyone. Including you,” she said, smile on her face belying her serious tone as she dragged the blade over his wrist. 

He watched her curiously, wondering if she was really doing what he thought she was doing, and he took a deep breath as she put her lips to his wrist to drink his blood. He realized that the fight was for the benefit of the listening Elijah, so he reached over and banged his fist on the table. “Damnit Elena! There’s always another way!” 

“Not this time there wasn’t,” she snapped, reaching a hand to his cheek, as the other traced over his healing wrist and she mouthed, ‘together’. 

‘Together’ he mouthed back. “You want to get yourself killed, then fine, but don’t expect me to sit around and watch!” 

“Leave then. It’s what you’re good at. Running away. Hiding from your problems,” she yelled, using her facial expressions to emphasize some of the words before leaning up to press a quick soft kiss to his lips. 

“Goodbye, Elena,” he sneered as he mouthed ‘love you’. 

“Oh and Damon? I’m keeping the shirt,” she snapped as she mouthed ‘love you’ back to him before he stormed out and slammed the door. There was a reason that she was wearing one of his shirts today. She glanced at the mirror to make sure that there was no sign of Damon’s blood on her face or teeth and then headed back down as she heard the front door slam. 

Once she got back down, Elijah gave her a slow clap. “Brava. That was well done.” She had said she was going to make him angry enough to leave her and it had worked like a charm. 

Elena mustered up some crocodile tears that she made a show of wiping away. “It was necessary,” she sniffled. “I do have one other suggestion though before we go.”

“What’s that?” 

“Well I know Klaus probably already has a vampire lined up, but maybe he would accept a little switch?” 

“You’re not suggesting using the Salvatore are you?” he asked incredulously. He had been under the impression that making him leave was to keep him out of it. 

“No way. Not a chance. But it dawned on me that the ritual might be a little stronger with two doppelgangers involved…”

“But we don’t know where Katerina is,” Elijah pointed out. “That was why I tried to keep her in the tomb in the first place.”

“I do know where she is,” Elena smirked. “Follow me and I’ll show you.”

“We don’t have a great deal of time,” Elijah pointed out. 

“I know. It’ll be quick,” she promised, waving him to follow her downstairs. She grabbed a blood bag from the fridge on the way and opened the cell door. “One desiccated doppelganger,” Elena said smugly before lifting the blood bag in the air. “Shall I?” 

“Yes, please,” Elijah said, standing back a bit in case this was a trick so he would have time to kill them both. To his surprise and delight, it wasn’t a trick at all. With two doppelgangers and the human one shedding blood willingly, the ritual would easily be strong enough to knock Klaus for enough of a loop to make him easy pickings. 

Elijah had his hands full keeping Katerina in line as they headed for the ritual location so he was glad that Elena was following willingly. He could see her fear and nervousness, but that was to be expected. She was still living up to her end of the bargain. At least so far. 

Klaus was delighted to see the extra guest and clapped his hands together. “Katerina! How nice to see you!” he motioned one of the witches who brought down the circle of fire around the vampire and Klaus dragged him out as Elijah threw Katherine in as the fire went back up. Klaus grabbed a stake and killed the extra vampire, who thankfully wasn’t someone Elena knew. 

She did know the werewolf though and gasped, “Jules!” 

“I do hope that she wasn’t someone you cared about and wanted protected,” Klaus said with false sweetness. 

“Not at all. I only wish I could kill her myself,” Elena glared at the werewolf. Anyone torturing Damon got no sympathy from her, which was part of the reason that she so easily volunteered Katherine for this, but far from the main reason. 

“Good. Then if you will step into that circle there, we can get on with this,” Klaus said motioning to the third circle drawn on the ground and Elena took a deep breath before stepping in nervously, jumping a bit as the fire sprang up around her. 

Damon paced the woods nervously, looking at his watch every five minutes. He couldn’t believe that Elena was doing this. That she chose to become a vampire. He had no illusions that it wasn’t for him. Otherwise she would have taken the same deal, but let herself die. She’d tried that before after all. If this wasn’t proof alone of her love, then nothing was. That didn’t make him any less nervous though. There was still a lot that could go wrong. If Klaus or Elijah found out what she was doing, then they would kill her for good this time. His timing had to be right. He only hoped that Katherine’s description of the ritual had been the truth. 

He jumped as his watch beeped. The ritual was starting. He looked at his watch even more often as he waited the hour for it to be finished before he took off towards the site. He crouched down in the trees as he saw the witches were still there packing up their stuff, and waited for them to finish, resisting the urge to tap his foot impatiently. He had to stay undetected. He was sure that was what Elena meant by the hiding from his problems comment. 

It seemed like forever, but was only about ten minutes before they were gone. He waited another ten to make sure they were well away and weren’t going to come back for anything before he rushed out of the trees to the three bodies left laying there. He sucked in a sharp breath when he saw two Elena’s. Since the ritual sucked the life force from the vampire rather than the blood and left the heart intact, neither of them were withered like a normal vampire death, so they looked identical. That was when he remembered the comment about Elena keeping the shirt and he grinned. She really was brilliant. Only one of them was wearing his shirt. He picked her up and ran at full speed through the woods to her families lake house. It would be as good a place as any to lay low for her transition and he had left some blood here last time at her prompting for ‘future visits’ she’d said. 

He laid her down gently on the bed and brushed her hair back from her face as he waited by her side for her to wake up. It was another hour before she was sitting up with a gasp and looking around in a panic. “Shh. It’s okay, baby. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

“Damon,” she breathed out in relief. “It worked.”

“Yeah, baby. It worked,” he said with tears of happiness in his eyes as he kissed her desperately. 

“I told you to trust me,” she said softly, running a hand through his hair and over his cheek. 

“And you were right,” he admitted. “Are you sure this is what you want though? Being a vampire?” 

“This was inevitable from the moment we made our pact, Damon,” she told him. “Live or die we do it together. It doesn’t really work if I’m human and you’re not.”

“You shouldn’t have done it just for me, Elena,” he said sadly. 

“I didn’t,” she told him. “I did it for everyone. This way, we all live. More or less,” she joked gesturing to herself since she was technically dead now. 

“But they’ll figure out, you know. It won’t take long for them to notice that Elena Gilbert is still around, and with Katherine gone too…”

“But I won’t still be around, Damon,” Elena told him. 

“What do you…”

“You’re right. If I stayed in my old life, they would definitely figure it out and then they would come for all of us. Elena Gilbert died tonight. Her body will be found soon enough and she’ll get a nice funeral,” Elena told explained. 

“Katherine,” Damon realized. “That’s why you got them to use her.” 

“I’m hoping it didn’t whither her body like a vampire or at least some people will figure it out, but hopefully they’ll assume I’m dead anyway and let it go at that.”

“It didn’t. She looks perfectly human in death. Thanks for the shirt tip by the way. I might have been in trouble otherwise.” 

“I tried to consider everything that could possibly go wrong and plan for it,” Elena said with a grin. “I hope you waited to get me until everyone cleared out after the ritual?” Damon nodded. “Good. I knew I could count on you.”

“So, what role do I have in this whole new life of yours Miss NOT Elena Gilbert?” 

“That’s up to you. I know that Mystic Falls is your home and I won’t ask you to leave it. You can go home and play the grieving boyfriend or you can come with me and be the boyfriend that couldn’t deal with the loss and ran away.” 

“Like that’s even in question. My place is with you Elena. Now and forever,” Damon told her, pulling her into another passionate kiss.


	15. Epilogue Part 1

At the Grill:

Stefan went to find Bonnie. “Something’s wrong. Damon and Elena should be here by now. It’s after nightfall.” 

“They’re not coming, Stefan,” Bonnie said sadly. 

“What? Why?” he asked in a panic. 

“I don’t know. Elena couldn’t tell me. She just told me to keep everyone else here until one am. 

“Damon’s with her though, right? He wouldn’t let her sacrifice herself for this,” Jeremy said worriedly. 

“I don’t know,” Bonnie said again. “All she told me was that she had a plan and she asked me to trust her.”

“Maybe they’re running,” Stefan said, desperately hoping that was the case. It was either that or Elena had dosed Damon and gone to do the ritual anyway. It would have been easy for her to do and would explain why she wanted everyone else out of the way. She couldn’t have gotten past them all. He didn’t share that train of thought with the others though. There was no point in worrying them. “I need to get out, Bonnie,” Stefan told her. There was still time to stop this. 

“No,” Bonnie said firmly, tears running down her cheeks. “Either she’ll be fine and there’s no reason for you to go, or doing this was her last request for me. Either way, you’re not leaving.” 

Stefan punched the table and paced, running his hand through his hair. “You realize if I was Damon, I would kill you and end the spell that way.” 

“But you’re not Damon,” Bonnie replied. “And even with keeping the spell up I still have enough power to take you down if you try it, so you might as well go enjoy the party.” 

Once Stefan stormed off, Jeremy turned to Bonnie worriedly. “You don’t think she’ll be okay, do you?” 

“Put yourself in her position, Jeremy. If your death could save the lives of everyone you loved, what would you do?” 

“Then why did you agree to this?” Jeremy asked angrily. 

“Because she promised that she had a plan. And Damon is with her. You know that he would die before he let anything happen to her. That at least gives her a chance. And because she said that everyone in this place would be dead if I didn’t. I had to make a choice too, Jeremy and no matter how much I love her, I won’t sacrifice all of us to save her. I just have to trust that Damon can.” 

For those that realized that there were two key people missing. Those that knew what tonight was supposed to be. Those that knew that they were sealed in the building. This party was more than a little tense. Stefan had even tried starting a fire to force Bonnie to release the seal, but she just used her power to put it out and glared at him for trying it. 

When one am came, the ‘in the know’ group rushed out the doors and barreled for the quarry at full speed, which was very fast since they had all by unspoken agreement, piled into two cars, both driven by vampires. Stefan and Caroline. Soon as the cars stopped, they all piled out, and by the time Jeremy, Bonnie, and Ric got there, Stefan and Caroline were already sobbing over Elena’s body. Jeremy and Bonnie clung to each other desperately as they wept and despite trying to keep it together, Ric had tears streaming down his own cheeks as he reached a hand to Jeremy’s shoulder as much to steady himself as to comfort Jeremy. 

“We need to…to call 911 or…or something,” Stefan managed to croak out after a while. 

“We need a story first,” Caroline sniffled. 

“She didn’t show up to the party and we got worried so we came looking for her and found her here like this,” Ric said. It had the benefit of being most of the truth. When he got nods from everyone else, he pulled out his phone and made the call. They all waited there for the police and ambulance to show up and gave their statements. 

Once that was done, Ric said, “Come on, Jeremy. I’ll take you home,” he said sadly. His car had been one of the ones they piled into, the other being Stefan’s. “I can’t take you home too,” he offered Caroline and Bonnie.

“If you could drop us both by my house,” Caroline agreed. She knew that Bonnie’s dad wasn’t home and neither of them needed to be alone right now. Her mom at least would know what happened soon if she didn’t already so would understand. 

“Sure. Come on. You gonna be okay, Stefan?” Ric asked him. 

“I need to…to check on Damon…” Stefan said in a faraway voice. 

Ric nodded and the rest of them piled back in his car and headed out. Stefan sat there on the ground for a good long while before he managed to pick himself up and head home. He searched the whole house for Damon, even the cell in the basement, but didn’t find him. He’d notice Katherine was gone too, but didn’t bother to spare a thought for her, assuming that Klaus or Elijah had nabbed her at some point. Once he realized that Damon wasn’t here, he went up to his room looking for clues. 

What Stefan didn’t know was that he missed Damon by about twenty minutes. Damon had come by long enough to pack, leave a note, and drop an empty tranquilizer dose on the floor to sell the story. He’d even packed up a few of Elena’s clothes. Not enough to be missed, but enough to get her through for a little while until they bought some more. Stefan quickly found the note sitting on Damon’s dresser with his name on it. 

Stef,  
I’m sorry. I failed. She’s gone. I was too late. I can’t stay here anymore. Don’t look for me. You won’t find me. I need time.  
-DS

Stefan noticed the wet marks on the paper and knew that Damon hadn’t written more because he couldn’t. He balled up the note and threw it in the fireplace. He wished that his brother had at least said goodbye, but he didn’t really blame him. Damon didn’t deal well with loss. He never had. He just hoped he didn’t turn off his humanity again. At least he would be easy to find if he did. Just follow the trail of bodies. He would keep an eye on the news for a while, but otherwise, he would give Damon his time. He knew that if he pushed then he was more likely to push Damon over the edge. 

Stefan didn’t leave the house or answer his phone for days and he had to turn Damon’s phone off when it kept ringing too which was when he realized that his brother had left it behind. The next time Stefan left the house was for Elena’s wake and funeral. He learned that the cause of death had been recorded as a brain aneurism and the general belief was that it was brought on by fright given the dead wolf that had been found near her body. Nobody apparently thought to question what had killed the wolf, but that was probably a good thing. 

Jenna approached him at the wake and asked where Damon was. She had been trying to call him for days. “He left,” Stefan told her. “He’s probably off the grid. He even left his phone behind.”

“Will he be okay?” Jenna asked worriedly. 

“I don’t know. I hope so,” Stefan sighed. “This is how he grieves. He tries to outrun it for as long as he can.” 

“Well if you hear from him, let him know that if he needs someone to talk to, I’m here. And I’ll put some of Elena’s things aside for him. Stuff he might want to remember her by,” she said with a sniffle as the tears flowed down her cheeks. “She loved him so much.” 

Stefan nodded. “She did. And he loved her with everything he had.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Stefan. I wasn’t even thinking. You loved her too, I know.” 

“I did. I /do/. But it didn’t take me long to realize that while we were good for each other, she and Damon were perfect for each other,” Stefan admitted. “I could never have loved her like he did and she could never have loved me like she did him. She was my friend, first and foremost, and I will always miss her.” Jenna hugged him tightly before moving on. 

Jeremy found Stefan not long after that and gave him his letter. “I found a whole stack of letters in Elena’s desk. You’re the last one I had to find.” Stefan nodded and thanked him before putting it in his pocket to read later.


	16. Chapter 16

A hundred or so years later:

Stefan had finally tracked his brother down. He had been looking for years. Since the last time he saw him about twenty years ago. He’d seen him twice since Elena had died. Both times when he fell off the wagon and went on ripper binges and Damon showed up to help put him back together and then disappeared again. This time, he wasn’t getting away so easily though. He knocked on the door in the middle class neighborhood and heard his brother’s voice from inside say, “Can you grab the door baby? I’m up to my ears in glue at the moment.”

A minute later the door opened and Stefan gasped at the sight. “Stefan…” Elena breathed out in shock. 

“Do what?” Damon asked, rushing into the room. “Stef…what are you doing here? How did you find us?” 

“Katherine?!” Stefan finally found words as he gaped at Elena before turning to Damon. “You hooked back up with Katherine? Are you insane?” 

Damon burst into laughter. “Since you found us, you might as well come in, brother.” 

Stefan did so slowly, still trying to wrap his head around this situation. As the woman closed the door behind him, she chuckled too. “Please. Like Damon is stupid enough for fall for her tricks again.” 

“But…”

“Katherine Pierce is in a nice little grave in Mystic Falls marked Elena Gilbert,” Elena told him with a grin. 

“E-Elena?” Stefan asked. 

“The one and only,” she said before grabbing him in a tight hug that he happily returned and spun her around. 

“How? Why? Everyone was so devastated when you…well…died.” 

“I did actually die during that ritual,” she told him. “It was the only way to save everyone as I mentioned in the letter. You did get that right?” 

“Yeah, I got it, but…”

“I just happened to hijack some of Damon’s blood before I left with Elijah. Damon went back and grabbed my body once everyone cleared out and I completed the transition.”

“But why stay gone? You could have gone home,” Stefan asked, beyond hurt. 

“Because if she had gone home then Klaus and/or Elijah, whichever of them won their little fight, would have known what she did and would have killed everyone in defiance.”

“I was willing to die to keep all of you safe. Walking away was easy in comparison,” she told him. 

“You didn’t walk away from him though,” Stefan pointed out. 

“That would have done the opposite of keeping him safe,” Elena huffed. “He promised me after my first attempt to turn myself in that if I died then he was going to follow me. He said he refused to live in a world where I didn’t or something like that, so we made a pact. Live or die, we do it together.” 

“So you’ve been together all this time?” Stefan asked in shock. 

Elena smiled and started to sit on Damon’s lap before she stopped. “Go clean up please sweetheart.” 

“Right. Sorry. Forgot,” Damon laughed. “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.” 

“What was he doing?” Stefan asked curiously. 

“Building model airplanes,” Elena chuckled. “You know how he is. He picks up a new hobby every few years until he gets bored with it. But to answer your question, yes. We’ve been together for a hundred and eight years now.” 

“And you just walked away and never looked back,” he accused. 

“Watch your tone, brother,” Damon said warningly as he got back and sat down on the couch, pulling Elena into his lap. “If you think it was easy for her, then you never knew her at all.”

“I kept an eye on things as much as possible, thanks to the internet. Especially social media. I saw all the psychology awards Aunt Jenna got. I saw the pictures of her wedding to Ric. Their kids. I saw Jeremy and Bonnie’s wedding and all their kids. Their careers. You and Caroline were a lot harder to track, but I kept up as much as I could.”

“She was the one who let me know when you needed my help,” Damon told him. “I never really paid much attention to the news. 

“I guess now I know who you kept sneaking away to talk to for all those months you were putting me back together,” Stefan huffed. “You couldn’t have even told me?” 

“We were waiting for the heat to die down,” Damon explained. “What’s a hundred years when you have forever? Hell, Rose was running for five hundred years. Katherine just as long.”

“But…you’ve had good lives though? It hasn’t just been running and hiding?” Stefan asked hopefully. 

“We’ve had a wonderful life,” Elena said with a smile, snuggling into Damon’s arms. “We never stay anywhere longer than a couple years, but that’s not so bad. We see a lot of the world that way.” 

“The biggest difference between us and Katherine and Rose is that we have each other. Running isn’t so bad that way,” Damon explained. 

“Rose had Trevor,” Stefan pointed out. 

“Sure, but he was just her friend. He wasn’t her whole world,” Damon told him. 

“So…what now?” Stefan asked. 

“Well now that you’re in the loop, you have a choice. You can join us, but you’ll have to cut off contact with any other supernatural beings, or you can have a little visit, go on your way, we move on, and maybe track each other down every so often for short visits before we’re back in hiding.” 

“You know that Caroline and Klaus are together right?” Stefan asked. 

“Wait…what?” Elena asked, almost falling off Damon’s lap in shock and Damon wasn’t much better. 

“Yeah. They got together about fifteen years ago. She’s got him wrapped around her finger. I’m sure if she asked…”

“No,” Damon said firmly before Stefan could even finish. “At least not yet.” 

“I’m with Damon. Maybe if they stay together for a few more decades we might consider it, but as long as Klaus is still in the dark that I survived we’d like to keep it that way until we have a little more of a sure guarantee.” 

“That’s fair,” Stefan agreed. “Then I think we should just stick with tracking each other down for visits for a while. That way I’m still available as a go-between when and if you change your minds.” 

“Okay, but you have to stay for at least a few weeks this time,” Elena insisted. “We even have a spare room.” 

Stefan ended up staying for two months before he left. Two weeks after he left, Damon and Elena had moved away. 

Two hundred years after Elena’s ‘death’:

Damon and Elena walked into the living room and dropped their bags in the floor as they looked around with grins as Stefan leaned against the wall behind them. “I never thought I would see this place again,” Elena said happily. 

“I never thought I would miss the kitschy décor,” Damon laughed. 

“Your room is just how you left it too,” Stefan told them. “Except a little cleaner, of course with the maid service while I’m not living here and all.” 

Damon and Elena looked at each other and both said at the same time, “Race you,” and then two blurs were head for the stairs. 

Damon and Elena both collapsed in their first bed that they’d shared breathless with laughter and joy before Damon pounced on his wife of over two centuries as they reacquainted themselves with the room. When they came back downstairs five hours later, they realized they had company. “Finally! We thought you two would never come up for air!”

“Caroline!” Elena squealed rushing into her best friend’s arms. 

“You get over here too, you big dummy,” Caroline grabbed Damon’s arm and pulled him into a group hug. 

Once the greetings were over, Klaus stepped out of the shadows. “Damon. Elena,” he nodded in greeting at them. 

“Klaus,” Damon said distastefully. 

Caroline smacked him on the arm. “Be nice. We were nice to you for Elena’s sake even when we didn’t like you.”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Damon protested, rubbing his arm. 

“Careful, mate. She gets violent when she doesn’t get her way,” Klaus joked, trying to break the ice. 

Damon couldn’t help but snort amusedly at that. “You’re telling me.” 

“I want you to know that I was never chasing you,” Klaus said directing that statement more towards Elena, but including Damon in it as well. 

“If you had known what I did and that I survived would you have?” Elena asked bluntly. 

“At first…probably,” Klaus admitted. “But much like you, Damon, the love of a good woman made me a better man.” 

Damon considered him for a moment before nodding. “I can’t argue with that,” he said wrapping his arm around Elena and kissing her head. 

“At least we’re home now,” Elena said, snuggling up to Damon’s side. “And we don’t have to run anymore.”


End file.
